Kishore Biyani is a lesson for entrepreneurs. Founder of the Future Group, he is also the man behind the retail businesses Pantaloon, and Big Bazaar.
Born into a middle-class business family in Rajasthan, Biyani’s grandfather moved to Mumbai for business. In Mumbai, he used to sell dhotis and sarees. Kishore, who was not so bright in academics, completed his B. Com from the H.R College, Mumbai. Back then, his only interest was business. He did not mind sitting for hours with the shop owners just to observe customers. This practice helped him understand the psyche of consumers.
Later, Kishore, along with his father and siblings, worked at a fabric business called Bansi Silks Mills. He felt that the company’s business approach was wrong. It was then he noticed that some of his friends used stonewashed fabric trousers. This sparked a business idea in his mind and inspired him to find a local manufacturer to produce fabric. He sold them to selected textile shops in the city. In 1983, he started his own business to produce and sell fashionable fabric to textile manufacturers. He started creating his own brands and stepped into the Men’s Wear production business in 1987.
For the manufacture of trousers for men, he started Manz Wear Private Limited. In Hindi, trousers are called ‘Patloon’. Improvising it, he started the brand retail ‘Pantaloon’. By 1994, the Pantaloon franchisee business became worth Rs 9 million. After Pantaloon, he started Future Group.
His secret to success was his dedication and hard work. In 2001, he started Big Bazaar. Brands such as Factory, Home Town, Food Bazaar, Central, Ezone, and Fashion joined the Future Group through Big Bazaar. Within the next six years, the Future Group added 100 department stores under the Big Bazaar brand. Statistics say that about one-fourth of the population visits Big Bazaar stores each year.
By 2012, Pantaloon became present in 35 cities through 65 stores and 21 factory outlet stores. But, by that time, Future Group had a debt of Rs 8,000 crore. Of that, retail business constituted Rs 6,000 crore. To cover the debt, Kishore sold the majority of his shares in Pantaloon Retail to Aditya Biral Group for Rs 1,600 crore.
In 2016, he decided to revamp the Future Group as a consumer goods company and introduced 27 labels. His aim was to grow the food and FMCG business to a value of Rs 20,000 crore by 2021. However, he needed more capital to survive in a market that was already flooded with Reliance Retail and E-commerce firms. This increased his debts further.
Later, in 2019, Kishore admitted that his decision to diversify business was a wrong foot forward. He was also disappointed about losing his online foothold.
The crisis worsened during the covid period. Finally, Future Group signed a deal of Rs 24,713 crore with Reliance Retail. However, as Amazon challenged it, Kishore got entangled in a legal battle with Amazon. Eventually, the deal got cancelled, leaving Kishore at a crossroads.
