It
is not so easy to get people in smaller towns to spend money, but they
still come to the store, all dressed up with their families. It's an
outing for them ...
Kishore Biyani, who was born in a small trading family, emerged as
the India's retail czar. Kishore Biyani is the CEO of the Future Group
as well as the Managing Director of the Pantaloon Retail group. He is
one person who has replaced the conventional wisdom with the guts and
instincts in order to create the Future group which is a $ 1 billion
company which includes the well known Pantaloon Retail, which is a
department store group, the Big Bazaar, a company's name which is got
famous for their chain of hypermarkets, the Food Bazaar and the Central
Malls across the nation.
Kishore Biyani is known for his insights into the consumer behaviour
in the Indian market; he also represents the enigma to the emerging
players of the country. Popularly known to the Business world as KB, he
was written off by the media in his initial days for his unconventional
style of the business. All his stories were written off being termed as
“dirty”, and he was also not included in any trade meetings or the
conferences of the investors. He had then taken a step and challenged
the mindset of one and all which was very conventional by thinking big.
Mr. Biyani is a very strong believer in the motto of his corporate
group, 'Rewrite Rules, Retain Values,' he considers that the Indianness
is the core value which is driving the Future Group. He had very
recently launched his book titled, It Happened in India: The Story of
Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Central and the Great Indian Consumer, which
was co-authored by Dipayan Baishya. The book had sold about 100,000
copies which are more than any business book which was published in
India so far.
Early Days and Education
Kishore Biyani was born on the 9th of August in the year 1961 in
Mumbai. He was born in a small trading family. Mr. Biyani has completed
his Graduation in commerce from HR College of Commerce, Bombay and he
also holds a Post graduate diploma in Marketing Management.
Kishore Biyani was born in a small middle class family and started
his career by selling the stonewash fabric to the small shops in
Mumbai. Years later he started establishing his own businesses by
launching the shopping malls like Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar
and The Central where he made every attempt to capture the each penny
from the pockets of the Indian customer, and he was highly successful
in doing so.
Mr. Biyani does not only concentrate on the retail but also aims at
capturing the entire consumption space of the Indian market.
The Spark
Mr. Kishore Laxminarayan Biyani, PGD founded future Group and Future
Supply chain Solutions Ltd. and serving as the Group Chief Executive
Officer. Big bazaar has also been founded by him and he has been
working as the managing director of Future Retail from 1st April, 2005.
He had also been the managing director of Future ventures India
limited from February 5, 2008 to May 31, 2013.
He also is contributing as a Managing partner as well as Chairman of
Indivision capital fund. Also he is a heading the board of future
media India Ltd. as its chairman. Till September 29, 2012 he was the
chairman of the board of capital First Limited.
Till September 28, 2012 he worked as the non-executive chairman of
Future Capital Holdings Limited and also worked for Pantaloon Retail
(India) Limited as its Chairman. Since February 28, 2010 he has been
independently holding Fame India Ltd as their director. He has also
been the director since October 8, 2007 for Future Consumer Enterprise
Limited. From May 31, 2013 he also has been serving as the Vice
chairman of Future Ventures India limited. He also works as an
Executive Promoter Director for Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited.
Kishore Biyani also works for Future Group and Retail limited as a
director.
Since June 2, 2010 he has been holding Embassy property developments
independently as a Director. Since July 22, 2005 he has been the
director of Ambit investment Advisory Company Limited. He also worked
for Galaxy Entertainment Corp. Ltd, as a Non-executive and
non-independent Director till August 11, 2011. He was the Director of
Capital First Limited from September 5, 2006 to September 20, 2012. At
Jagran Prakashan Ltd he worked as an Independent Director from November
18, 2005 till January 31, 2013.
Till November 6, 2008 he worked as an
Independent non-executive Director of UTV software communications and
alters on as its additional Director till January 25, 2007. Since
January 2005 he served as the Director of PIL industries limited. In
the field of manufacturing, marketing and retailing of readymade
garments he has 25 years of experience. He has been rewarded with the
awards like CEO of the year (2001) and titles like Most admired
Retailer of the year (2004), Retail face of the year-Images retail
awards (2005) and also E&Y Entrepreneur of the year-Services (2006).
He is basically commerce Graduate and also holds a post graduate
diploma in marketing management. He did his bachelors from HR College
of Commerce Bombay in commerce.
His Journey with the Future Group
The journey of the CEO and founder of the Future Group, Mr. Kishore
Biyani does stimulate some motivational enzyme in anyone who reads it.
He believes in the credo of the Future Group, 'Rewrite Rules, Retain
Values.' The empire of the Future group is led by the Pantaloons
Retail, which today operates in about 16 million square feet of the
retail space and is spread across 85 towns and cities as well as 65
rural locations within India. The company employs around 35,000
employees and is also listed with the Indian Stock Exchange.
Future Groups implements the multi retail strategy, and some of its
leading formats are the Big Bazaar, Central Food Bazaar, Ezone,
Pantaloons, Planet Sports and Home Town. They also operate the most
popular Indian online shopping portal which is futurebazaar.com. The
rural chain Aadhar also belongs to the Future Group.
The present food chains of this group which are operating across
several cities and towns in India are Food Bazaar and FoodRite.
Foodhall is another food store which has been launched, and it aims at
targeting the urban Indian consumer, and the group wants to experiment
with the imported food products.
Another venture of the Future Group is the Future Fresh which is
into the supply of Fruits and Vegetables and these are sourced from
various other countries from New Zealand to Canada.
Kishore Biyani is known to be an elite food futurist and also has a
conventional way of thinking, and has very recently sharpened his
thoughts on the food space.
Family
Mr. Biyani is married to Sangita Biyani and the couple is blessed
with 2 children are presently based in Mumbai. The elder daughter Ashni
is the director of Future Ideas, which is the group's innovation and
incubation cell.
Awards & Accolades |
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Kishore Biyani is called as the Rajah of Retail. |
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He was also awarded as International Retailer of the Year 2007 by the US based National Retail Federation. |
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He was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the year 2006. |
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He was also given the CNBC First Generation Entrepreneur of the Year award in the year 2006. |
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He was awarded the CEO of the Year in the year 2001. |
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He was also awarded the Most Admired Retailer of the Year in the year 2004. |
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He has received the Retail Face of the Year - Images Retail Awards in the year 2005. |
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He was also given the award of Young Business Leader by the IIM Lucknow National Leadership. |
Professional Affiliations |
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UTV Software Communications Limited |
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Jagran Prakashan Ltd |
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Galaxy Entertainment Corporation Limited |
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Inox Leisure Limited |
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Fame India Ltd. |
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PIL Industries Limited |
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Capital First Limited |
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Embassy Property Developments Private Limited |
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Indivision India Partners |
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Future Media India Ltd. |
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Future Supply Chain Solutions Ltd. |
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Future Group |
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HR College of Commerce Bombay |
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Ambit Investment Advisory Company Limited |
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Future Consumer Enterprise Limited |
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Kumar Urban Development Limited |
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Big Bazaar Pvt., Ltd |
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Future Lifestyle Fashions Limited |
Quotes |
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I believe that we all come to this world to kill time. Therefore, we
pick up some activity that we like doing and call it our profession. I
call this the time pass theory.. |
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There are two types of leadership. The first is all about thought
leadership, which is original thought, believing in it and making things
happen based on those thoughts. The second type is skills leadership,
which refers to doing things consistently and in your own style.. |
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For me, leadership is all about thought leadership, not skills
leadership. Skills leadership can be developed even after the age of 24
or 25, but thought leadership cannot be developed after a certain age. |
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The environment around you keeps changing and you must keep creating new lenses to look at things... |
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The whole problem is people believe that if they have achieved
something they have reached Mount Everest and then leadership is over.
But it is a continuous process. |
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One cannot go against the flow of nature. In our group, we don't follow
business principles. We follow the principles of nature.. |
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We are an agrarian society where aspirations are not as high as in an
industrialized nation or society. We have a lot of challenges to face
before becoming a consumer-driven society. |