Brijmohan Lall Munjal

1. 🚲 In 1944, Brijmohan Lall Munjal moved from Kamalia (now in Pakistan) to Amritsar with his three brothers and started a humble bicycle parts business that laid the foundation for Hero Cycles in 1954 in Ludhiana. 2. In 1956, Hero Cycles secured a government license for bicycle manufacturing with Rs 6 lakh support, launching an annual capacity of 7,500 cycles that skyrocketed by 1975 to India’s largest bicycle company. 3. 🏆 By 1986, Hero Cycles earned a Guinness World Record as the largest bicycle manufacturer globally, marking a rare industrial milestone for an Indian company of that era. 4. In 1984, Munjal signed a landmark joint venture with Japan’s Honda, and by 1985 Hero Honda launched the CD 100 motorcycle, a model that would sell over 8.6 million units by 2002. 5. 🌍 Hero MotoCorp, the post-2011 incarnation after Honda's exit, expanded to nearly 50 countries with eight manufacturing plants, including outside India—in Colombia and Bangladesh—cementing its global reach. 6. 🏅 Munjal received the Padma Bhushan in 2005 and numerous business leadership awards, reflecting his role in shaping Indian industry governance and innovation. 7. ❓ How did a young man arriving with a bicycle parts business from undivided India transform a modest workshop into a global two-wheeler empire spanning continents and decades?