New Delhi, Nov. 1 (PTI): Brijmohan Lall Munjal, Hero MotoCorp patriarch and the doyen of the Indian two-wheeler industry, passed away this evening after a brief illness.

Munjal, 92, breathed his last at a private hospital in south Delhi, according to family sources. He is survived by three sons and a daughter.

His last rites will be performed tomorrow.

Munjal had retired from active role and had become chairman emeritus of the over $4-billion group earlier this year and remained on the company's board as a non-executive member.

Hero Group, which officially came into existence in 1956, had started its activities in the early 1940s as a bicycle-maker run by the four brothers.

Munjal was born in 1923 at Kamalia, present-day Pakistan. After India's independence, the Munjal brothers started a small business of manufacturing bicycle parts in Ludhiana and went on to build one of the largest business groups in the country.

He led the group to a number of firsts. Hero MotoCorp is the world's largest two-wheeler company now for the 14th year in a row.

Hero Cycles has been the largest manufacturer of bicycles since 1986.

Munjal led Hero Group to form a joint venture with Japan's Honda in 1984. The joint venture, Hero Honda, went on to become the world's single-largest motorcycle maker. The partnership ended in 2011.

Munjal was among the earliest Indian industrialists to effectively implement (Just-in-Time) JIT as well as backward integration and is acknowledged as the trend-setter in the area.

Since early days, he ran the organisation with a sharp focus on current asset management, which helped to evolve vendor efficiency and zero-inventory management practices at Hero.

He was conferred with the Padma Bhushan in 2005 in recognition of his contribution in the field of trade and industry.

In an official statement, Hero MotoCorp said, "With profound grief and deep sadness, we regret to inform that the visionary founder of the diversified Hero Group, Brijmohan Lall Munjal, passed away here today at 7.05pm. He was 92."

"An institution-builder, Munjal also led the Hero Group to successfully venture into other areas such as auto ancillary, financial services, renewable energy, education and electronics."