Ethics, respect and relationships are the building blocks of any business, says Brijmohan Lall Munjal. And, at 90, the chairman of the Hero Group is still the force that built the world's largest two-wheeler company
Award: Lifetime Achievement
Brijmohan Lall Munjal
Founder director and chairman, Hero Motocorp
Age: 90
Interests outside of work: Yoga, movies
Why he won this award: For building Hero Group into the world’s largest cycle-maker and Hero Motocorp into the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer (by volume) and now rebuilding it after the breach with Honda
Brijmohan Lall Munjal is no stranger to adversity. For a man who found his feet in post-Independence India and, today, has a personal wealth of more than $2.2 billion, he would have faced challenges of varying hues and magnitudes. But, even for the battle-scarred nonagenarian, nothing would have compared to the events of two years ago.
Having built his life on relationships, looking upon the Hero Group as a large family of suppliers, dealers and employees working together towards a common goal, the bitter disintegration of a pivotal association would have stung.
In 1984, Munjal had joined hands with Japanese major Honda to manufacture motorcycles in a country that did not think beyond scooters. He was hesitant—he wanted to make scooters. But Honda wasn’t willing. For that, they had already found a partner in the Firodias (makers of Kinetic). But, as fate would have it, Hero Honda and its motorcycles gave everybody a run for their money and, by 2001, beat Bajaj Auto to become India’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer.
In the years between March 2000 and March 2011, Hero Honda’s (now Hero Motocorp) revenue grew from Rs 2,118 crore to Rs 20,787 crore; profits increased from Rs 192 crore to Rs 1,927 crore.
But, inexplicably for the industry, on December 21, 2010, Hero Honda split up. It was a bitter separation.
In 1944, the Munjal family moved to Amritsar in Punjab where they started manufacturing bicycle parts. It was a tough phase. “I travelled across India carrying bicycle parts in a bag. I would go to dealers to show them the samples. They would say, ‘Sir, you’ll show something and send something completely different. This won’t work’,” says Munjal.
In more ways than one, Davar owes his career to Munjal. “He is a godfather to me. I come from a family of professionals; my father was a banker. I completed my engineering and was ready to go abroad for my MBA,” he says.
(This story appears in the 01 November, 2013 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)