Since the easing of the lockdown, the company has successfully managed to increase its market share and is now poised to aggressively expand globally, venture into EVs and clock the next 100 million units in production milestone in next 10 years. “I say this often that we should never waste a good crisis,” Hero MotoCorp Chairman and CEO Pawan Munjal tells Sharmistha Mukherjee.
Edited excerpts :Q. Today is a big milestone for you – 100 million production. How do you see the next growth phase?
Today is indeed a big milestone. Not just for us, but also for India and India’s inherent capabilities. We are one of the fastest to achieve the 100 million sales milestone and also the only Indian automotive company to achieve this landmark.
Thirty-seven years ago, we did not see this coming and definitely not in this kind of environment. We took 29 years to reach the first 50 million and 7 years for the next 50. Now that we have achieved this landmark, we are not going to rest on our laurels and aim to achieve the next 100 million by 2030 – over the next 10 years.
There is immense scope for growth both within India and our markets outside and we are poised to make the most of these opportunities.
Q. Hero MotoCorp has managed to grow sales over the past few months and has also registered substantial gains in market share since the easing of the lockdown. How confident are you of sustaining this momentum going ahead?
For the entire decade that just finished, we have continuously registered sales growth and we have been on an upward trajectory in terms of global expansion, technology development and of course maintaining our leadership.
The year 2020 was unprecedented and so were the challenges that came along with it. However, the entire Hero ecosystem came together to demonstrate resilience, motivation and belief to register record-breaking growth.
This makes me immensely proud of what we managed to achieve. This also gives me the belief that we will continue our growth journey in the future as well.
We have had lots of learnings during the past year and we have also aligned our forces towards the future. We have a clear vision and roadmap of what we want to achieve and therefore I am confident that we will register growth both in India and international markets in the times ahead.
Q. Hero MotoCorp announced plans to invest Rs 10,000 crore over the next 5-7 years in February. Under the current circumstances, how are you evaluating those plans? Will you delay these investments ?
I say this often that we should never waste a good crisis. While 2020 brought enough challenges, it also gave us the opportunity to relook at our operating models, huddle around as teams and find new roads to success.
Our performance since the lockdown is proof that we were able to manage this adverse situation well. You will remember that last year at CIT I shared the new vision of the company, ‘Be the Future of Mobility’. We are now clearly focussed on realising our vision and mission through strategic new business decisions.
We will continue to focus on further strengthening R&D strength, new mobility solutions, premium range of products and expansion in international markets.
Q. What is your strategy for growing Hero’s presence in the premium end of the market and maintaining your leadership position? Global markets?
As I said, we have a clear vision for the next five years, during which time we plan to launch 10 products every year – including new products, refreshes and variants. This will also include new premium products in the higher engine capacity segments.
Out of these 10 products each year, two-thirds will be scooters and premium motorcycles. This will enable us to witness growth in new segments.
We also have a strong focus to expand our business operations outside India and also increase our presence in the existing global markets. Our new slogan for the Global Business is R4 – Revitalize, Recalibrate, Revive and Revolutionize. As we speak, we have just finalised our entry into the Mexico market. We have also strengthened our business operations in Nicaragua and Honduras by appointing new distributor partners there.
Q. Covid-19 is seen as a black swan event by companies and governments. What are the learnings from this pandemic for you? Will this change the way business is conducted?
At Hero MotoCorp, we were probably among the very first companies to anticipate the oncoming crisis due to Covid-19, and constituted a Business Continuity Task Force under my direct supervision.
The agility, willingness, leadership and resilience displayed by our motivated teams make me believe that we are on the right track. We have come a long way in the past year, making significant progress in our operations, work-culture and organizational structure. This has put us in a great shape to tackle any new challenges in the future.
Work-from-home, digital meetings, online sales, remote collaboration, and crowd-sourcing have been just some of the key new learnings that have been converted into opportunities to drive positive results.
We also made the most of this period by upskilling our staff, optimizing finances and operations, and pledging to become even more eco-friendly through our operations and products.
Q. How do you think the EV landscape will evolve in the next few years?
For EVs, we have a three-pronged approach – one through our own internal project at CIT, the second is at Hero Hatch – our internal start-up, and third, through our investment in Ather.
So, we have a strong multi-pronged approach as far as the EV segment is concerned.
