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The
Beginning
We look over our shoulders,
we see the past. We use it to make a better present and a
beautiful tomorrow, as tomorrow isn’t just another day, it’s
another chance for us to better ourselves and to excel.
Hero Cycles is a product of this philosophy. The philosophy
that instills commitment, team work and foresight. Hero’s
colossal journey started before independence. The four Munjal
brothers, hailing from a small town called Kamalia, now in
Pakistan, are the men who are behind the mission. Brotherhood
apart, what knit the men together was the wealth of will,
integrity, ambition & determination. In the year 1944,
they decided to start a business of bicycle spare parts in
Amritsar. Its is modest beginning and the next 3 years saw
the business grow rapidly.But the dark clouds of partition
eclipsed their plans of the future. With renewed vigour and
optimism, the operational base was shifted to Ludhiana. By
1956, the brothers had began manufacturing key components
of bicycles and as a logical way forward, began to assemble
the entire cycle at their manufacturing plant in Ludhiana.
In the early days, the plant had a capacity for 25 cycles
per day. Over the next few years, the Bicycle Unit started
growing in stature and size, attracting skilled engineers,
technocrats, administrators and entrepreneurs. From a modest
beginning of mere 639 bicycles in the year 1956, Hero Cycles
products over 18500 cycles a day today, the highest in global
reckoning. With the 48% share of the Indian market, this volume
has catapulted Hero in the ‘Guinness Books of World Records’
in 1986 and edge over global players is being maintained since
then.
A tiny acorn has now become a mighty Oak. From cycle to two
- wheelers was a natural step, and the Hero Group came into
being. The Hero Group, today, is a vast conglomerate of companies,
either in the form of collaborations, joint ventures or fully
owned subsidiaries, with more than Rs. 10000 Crore turnover
annually. Hero Group, besides being the world’s largest manufacturers
of bicycles, motorcycles and chains to this date, has diversified
into newer segments like Information Technology, IT Enabled
Services and Financial Services.
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