Do we like them?

Do we like Hero MotoCorp?

World's largest two-wheeler maker (motorcycles, scooters, Vida EVs), based in New Delhi, India.

Our score: 5 out of 10. Mixed. A huge, long-established maker with real green targets, but tax and money-laundering probes into the chairman are unresolved in what we found. We'd hold off.

Hero MotoCorp is India's giant of motorbikes and scooters, run by chairman Pawan Munjal. Gupta was named CEO, and the company is now pushing into electric scooters under the Vida brand, which is being set up as a fully independent unit.

The drama: in March 2022 the income tax department searched Hero premises and Munjal's home in a tax evasion probe. One report says it looked at suspected bogus expenses of about Rs 1,000 crore.

In August 2023 the Enforcement Directorate searched Munjal's residence and other locations in a money laundering probe. Hero confirmed the visit. The results we saw don't say how either case ended.

On the green side, Autocar Pro reported Hero became 100% zero-waste-to-landfill. A Business Today clip says it aims to be carbon neutral by 2030 and has cut emissions 45%. Gupta says it is working on flex-fuel and hybrid tech. That's a mixed picture, hence the middling score.