Hero Group co-founder Satyanand Munjal passed away

Satyanand Munjal, co-founder of Hero Cycles group, passed away on 14 April 2016 at Model Town, Ludhiana. He was 99.

He was popularly known as Mahatma Satyanand Munjal for being devoted to several social causes related to the Arya Samaj.

Satyanand had co-founded Hero Group with his three brothers, Om Prakash Munjal, Brijmohan Lall Munjal and Dayanand Munjal. The brothers hailed from a small town called Kamalia, now in Pakistan.

The philanthropist had served as a Co-Chairman and Managing Director (MD) of Hero Cycles Ltd.

Satyanand was also known for his philanthropic acts such as Bahadur Chand Munjal (BCM) Arya schools, Hero DMC Heart Institute, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).

About Hero Group

• After partition and independence of India, the Munjal brothers moved to Ludhiana and started a bicycle unit called Hero Cycles in 1956.

• By 1975, Hero became the largest manufacturer of bicycles in India with a production of 7500 cycles per day.

• In 1984, Hero group joined Honda Motors of Japan to create Hero Honda Motors Limited, which soon became one of the market leaders in motor-cycle sales in India.

• In 1986, Hero Cycles produced over 18500 cycles a day, the highest in global reckoning. With the 48% share of the Indian market, this volume has catapulted Hero in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world.

• By 2004, Hero Honda became the world's largest manufacturer of two-wheelers with over 48% market share in India.

• In August 2011, Hero and Honda parted company, thus forming Hero MotoCorp and Honda moving out of the Hero Honda joint venture.

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