Brijmohan Lall Munjal, widely regarded as the father of the Indian two-wheeler industry, passed away at the age of 92. Munjal, who founded Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer, is survived by three sons: Suman Kant, Pawan Kant and Sunil Kant. Munjal’s younger brother O P Munjal had passed away in August this year.
In June this year, Brijmohan Munjal stepped down from the position of chairman at Hero MotoCorp to become chairman emeritus. He passed the baton to his son, Pawan, who is now the chairman, chief executive officer and managing director of the company.
Munjal was well known for his inter-personal relationship with his employees, vendors and distributors. He introduced the concept of dealerships in the two-wheeler sector. He was personally involved in appointing all dealers. Munjal had known almost every dealer by name. He also started the trend of taking dealers on foreign tours.
He was conferred with the Padma Bhushan in 2005 in recognition of his contribution in the field of trade and industry. Munjal helped establish numerous medical, educational and infrastructure facilities.
Did You Know???
- Brijmohan Munjal had inked an agreement with Honda in the 1980s to manufacture motorcycles even though he was keen to make scooters as India was largely a scooter market those days.
- Hero Honda was born as a result of the 1984 agreement and the entity ruled the motorcycle market in India.
- In 2011, Hero parted ways with Honda to create Hero MotoCorp.
- Both Honda and Hero have grown since then although Hero remains the largest player with revenues of Rs 27,500 crore in FY15.
- He positioned motorcycles as more fuel efficient than scooters, which struck a chord with the cost-conscious Indian buyers.
- The ‘Fill it, shut it, forget it’ campaign remains one of the most effective ones in the country’s corporate history.
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Recently RC Bhargava has been honoured with the lifetime achievement award at the Forbes India Leadership Awards (FILA), 2015. He is associated with which company?
