Ludhiana, Aug 13
O.P. Munjal, who began
modestly and finally became the father of India's cycle industry with
his iconic Hero Cycles, died here on Thursday, family sources said.
The
86-year-old Munjal was admitted to the Hero Heart Institute at the
Dayanand Medical College and Hospital where he passed away.
Punjab
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal hailed Munjal's "immense
contribution in helping Ludhiana emerge on the industrial map of the
world through Hero cycles".
He said Munjal was into several philanthropic causes, including schools and colleges to help the needy.
"Punjab
has lost one of its illustrious sons, who would be ever remembered for
his hard work and dedication," the chief minister said.
"It is a
huge personal loss for me but I am sure the life of this great
entrepreneur of Punjab will act as a source of inspiration for the
coming generations to work zealously for attaining any goal," he added.
After
a humble beginning in 1944 when Munjal was a dealer of bicycle spare
parts in Amritsar with his brothers, he became one of the largest
bicycle manufacturers in the world, scripting a fascinating success
story.
The Hero Cycles factory was set up in 1956 in Ludhiana
with a capacity to produce 25 cycles a day. It now makes nearly 19,500
cycles daily.
Listed in the 'Guinness Books of World Records' in
1986 as the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world, Hero Cycles
commands nearly 40 percent of market share in India's cycle market.
Even
in this era of fast and fancy cars, jet-setting tycoons and
technology-driven communication, Munjal didn't use his mobile phone,
never sent an email and didn't believe in conference calls.
In
her biography of Munjal, author and motivational speaker Priya Kumar
says that the Munjals began by selling cycle parts, with O.P. -- who had
only passed Class 10 -- given the daunting task of going from city to
city to collect orders.
He travelled in third class rail
compartments and stayed in the cheapest hotels. At one time, 80 percent
of their business shut down due to poor quality of cycle parts supplied
to them.
The brothers took loans from family and friends to start all over again.
It
was then Punjab chief minister Pratap Singh Kairon who told one of the
brothers to start assembling cycles -- instead of dealing in cycle
parts.
The Hero brand then became Hero Cycles, to take on giants such as Raleigh and Hercules. It never looked back.
But
despite his success, Munjal remained a humble man. Till the very end,
he continued to pay respect to his elder brothers by touching their
feet.
Once when he realized that the quality of his cycles needed
to be upgraded to match global standards, Munjal halted production and
recalled all unsold cycles, replacing them with the superior version.
Hero
Cycles, in Japanese style, had no warehouses. As soon as the day's
production got over, the cycles were loaded onto trucks for different
destinations.
Faced with a truck drivers strike once, Munjal ordered buses to transport his cycles.
But Munjal was a taskmaster. He had no tolerance for mediocrity. He never took no for an answer.
