Hero Electronix to invest over Rs 1,000 cr in five years

Ujjwal Munjal, Founder-Director, Hero Electronix, talks to Girja Shankar Kaura 

Over the years, Hero Group has been diversifying their business interests from bicycles to motorcycles and scooters. Electronics is one such area where the group sees a future. Ujjwal Munjal, founder-director, Hero Electronix, talks about the future plans of the company.

Q. It’s been a year since Hero Electronix was founded. How has been the journey so far?

A. Hero Electronix is the Hero Group’s maiden foray into the electronics sector. Our vision is to build a billion dollar global digital products and solutions enterprise. The past one year has been an exciting journey and I am proud to say that we have crossed many milestones. We started with the acquisition of a majority stake in June 2015 in MyBox Technologies, the largest multi-operator R&D house and manufacturer of digital set-top boxes in the country. MyBox Technologies has grown multi-fold in the past year; we added Airtel DTH as our customer and made good inroads into cable customers.

Recently in April 2016, Hero Electronix acquired strategic stake in the Bengaluru-based Tessolve Semiconductor, the world leader in semiconductor test engineering services.

Q. Why did Hero Electronix acquire strategic stake in Tessolve Semiconductor?

A. Hero Electronix’s goal is to become a digital products and solutions enterprise and we are looking to partner with companies that can contribute in reaching that goal. Tessolve Semiconductor is the pioneer and leader in its space. It offers engineering expertise in semiconductor design, test/product engineering, PCB design, failure analysis and systems design.

Q. What are your plans to become a global digital enterprise?

A. Hero Electronix and its group companies plan to invest Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 1,200 crore in the next 5 to 7 years for expansion. Our approach is to invest in businesses that are engineering led and IP driven. Through a mix of strategic partnerships, global alliances and greenfield investments, Hero Electronix aims at building a robust digital technology business.

Q.Hero Electronix acquired majority stake in MyBox Technologies in 2015. How do you plan to grow the company in the highly competitive Indian set-top box market?

A. The demand for set-top boxes in India continues to grow with the digitisation mandate of the Government of India. Despite tremendous competition from global set-top box companies, especially from duty-free ASEAN countries, MyBox Technologies has shown a robust growth in the last financial year. There has been nearly 10-fold growth in revenues in fiscal 2016, with the current turnover touching about Rs 300 crore. With the overall push on digitisation, we are confident that the revenues would double in the current financial year. We are also targeting to further consolidate MyBox Technologies’ presence in DTH and cable segment along with entry into international markets. The company is working on developing next generation digital content distribution platforms like Hybrid, OTT etc.