Hero Cycles has this week announced plans to set up a new international headquarters in London as it looks to give its e-bike business a major push worldwide. The move is supported by the launch of the International Cycle Valley project in the Punjab in northern India, which will raise the firm’s manufacturing capacity by four million bikes a year.

Hero already has a claim to be the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world, producing around six million bikes a year. The majority are sold in India, but the firm has been setting its sights farther afield in recent years.

In 2018, the firm launched 75 bikes for the UK market under the Insync brand name (with Viking one of its more notable sub-brands).

It subsequently moved its Global Design Centre to Manchester and then added a number of e-bikes.

Insync trebled sales during 2020, selling more than 50,000 bikes.

The Business Standard reports that the new ‘Hero International’ London HQ will unify Hero’s various European businesses as part of a long-term bid to grab an increased share of the e-bike market.

"The dedicated headquarters in Europe will enable us to devise an effective long term growth strategy backed up by manufacturing support from India where we are scaling up production capacity significantly through the International Cycle Valley project,” said Hero chairman, Pankaj M Munjal.