Pawan Munjal and Family

Hero MotoCorp separated from Honda in 2011. The prediction that it would lose market share without the partnership turned out to be wrong.

Hero MotoCorp is the world's largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters by volume, a position it has held since the separation from its Honda joint venture in 2011. The split required Hero to develop independent R&D capabilities, build its own engine technology and establish supplier relationships that had previously been managed through the JV, a transition that many analysts expected would damage the business significantly. Pawan Munjal managed it without losing market share, which was the primary test of whether the separation would work in practice.

The company subsequently entered the electric two-wheeler market through the Vida brand and the renewable energy sector through Hero Future Energies. Vasudha Munjal serves on the board and Rahul Munjal leads the energy business, a distribution of next-generation responsibility across the group's two most significant forward-looking bets. Hero MotoCorp's core business, affordable, fuel-efficient motorcycles sold in India and across South and Southeast Asia, generates the cash flow that underwrites these transitions.