The historic corporate partnership known as Hero Honda Motors Limited, which operated as a highly successful joint venture between India's Munjal family and Japan's Honda Motor Company, came to an amicable end in 2011. Following the decision by both partners to part ways, the Munjal family bought out Honda's entire equity stake in the joint venture. Consequently, the company was officially rebranded as Hero MotoCorp Limited, allowing the enterprise to operate independently, develop its own proprietary in-house research and development capabilities, and expand its product distribution and exports into international global markets without geographic restrictions.