Meet man who started bicycle spare parts business with brothers, later built Rs 79755 crore company

Many successful business empires in India started as small ventures. Some even began during the time of partition, when first-generation businessmen along with their family members started. One such person who started a bicycle parts business with his three brothers in Amritsar (in 1944) was Brijmohan Lall Munjal. Later, he and his brothers relocated to Ludhiana. The family set up a company there in 1954 that provided people with basic transport (cycles). The company was Hero Cycles Limited which used to manufacture bicycle parts, starting with forks and then adding handles and other parts.

The Munjal Brothers -- Brijmohan Lall Munjal, Dayanand, Satyanand and Om Prakash -- went on to manufacture bicycles, moving into mopeds and then motorcycles after forging a partnership with Honda Motor in 1984. In 2010 the family split 4 ways, with Brijmohan's faction getting control of the Honda JV. In 2011. Munjal parted ways with Honda. 

Brijmohan passed away in 2015 at the age of 92. He had long since handed the reins to his sons. The eldest, Pawan Munjal, is the executive chairman and whole-time director of Hero Motocorp. The company has a market cap of Rs 79755 crore as of January 5.

Brijmohan was a man who started small, dreamt big and used a combination of grit and perseverance to create one of the country's largest corporate groups and the World's No. 1 manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters. he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2005 in the field of industry and trade.

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