Kisore Biyani’s autobiography ‘It Happened in India’ creates publishing historyApril 21st, 2007 · 13 Comments

Kishore Biyani, who three months ago

was conferred“International Retailer of the Year” Award

by the prestigeous US National Retail Federation (NRF),

could truly be considered as the pioneer of multi-brand

modern (organised) retail in India.

Born in a middle class marwari trading family, Kishore

Biyani, began his career selling stonewash fabric to

small shops in Mumbai. After having a brush with film

making and festival organising, he went on to launch

Pantaloons, the biggest listed retailer of the country,

today.

Pantaloons is credited with launching many retail formats in value and lifestyle

retailing under some of the best known retailing brand names in the country, including

Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Central, e-zone, and Home Town.

While, most successful men and women write their biographies post their retirement,

Kishore Biyani has gone ahead with writing his biography, “It Happened in India,” if

one could say so, at the beginning of his retailing career.

“It happend in India” is the story of this maverick entrepreneur’s experiments with

exploration of business the Indian way, his uncanny insight into the mind of Indian

consumer and his simple philosophy of – Rewrite Rules, Retain Values.

As expected, the book even before being widely available, has become a success story

in its own right. According to media reports, while 10,000 copies (largest ever for an

Indian book) of the book have already been sold on the day of its launch, the publishers

are also confident of selling the initial lot of 30,000 books in a few days. In another first

in the history of publishing in India, this is the first indigenous book which has had a

print run of 200,000 copies.

The book in a true Kishore Biyani style has been priced at Rs 99/- only for soft cover,

while the hard cover price has been fixed at Rs. 495/-. The book, which has been co-

authored with Dipayan Baishya, is currently available for sale in a few Big Bazaar and

Depot stores in Mumbai and Pune and can also be ordered online at Futurebazaar.com.

Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd.(141224:undefined)141224   On Other Exchanges

Snapshot News Financials People Transactions

Overview Board of Directors Committees

 

EXECUTIVE PROFILE*

Kishore Biyani     Return to Jagran Prakashan Ltd

Managing Director, Executive Promoter Director and Member of Corporate Governance Committee, Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd.

46

46

Age Total Annual Compensation This person is connected to 46 board members in 7 different organizations across 9 different industries.

See Board Relationships47 20,968,602 INR

As of Fiscal Year 2009

BACKGROUND*

Mr. Kishore Biyani is the Chief Executive Officer at Future Group. He is also the Chairman and Managing Director at Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited. Mr. Biyani is a Managing Partner and Chairman at Indivision Capital Fund. He is the Chairman of Future Capital Holdings.

CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS*

Knowledge House Shyam NagarMumbai, Maharashtra 400060

India

Phone: 91 22 3084 1300Fax: 91 22 6644 2222

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEMBERSHIPS*

Managing Director, Executive Promoter Director and Member of Corporate Governance Committee

ANNUAL COMPENSATION*

Salary 20,968,602

Total Annual Compensation 20,968,602

STOCK OPTIONS*

All Other Compensation 10,000,000

TOTAL COMPENSATION*

Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd.

Director

Galaxy Entertainment Corp. Ltd.

Chairman

Indivision Capital Fund

Chairman

Future Media India Ltd.

2005-Present

Independent Director, Member of Audit Committee and Member of Remuneration Committee

Jagran Prakashan Ltd

2005-Present

Former Director

Pantaloon Industries Limited

2005-Present

Director

Ambit Investment Advisory Company Limited

2006-Present

Chairman of the Board, Member of Audit Committee, Member of Nomination Committee, Member of Shareholders/Investors Grievance Committee and Managing Partner of Indivision Capital Fund

Future Capital Holdings

2007-Present

Former Independent & Non-Executive Director and Member of Remuneration Committee

UTV Software Communications Ltd.

2010-Present

Independent Director

Fame India Ltd.

EDUCATION*

Total Annual Cash Compensation 20,968,602

Total Short Term Compensation 20,968,602

Other Long Term Compensation 10,000,000

Total Calculated Compensation 30,968,602

There is no Education data available.

OTHER AFFILIATIONS*

UTV Software Communications Ltd.

Jagran Prakashan Ltd

Galaxy Entertainment Corp. Ltd.

Fame India Ltd.

Pantaloon Industries Limited

Future Capital Holdings

Indivision Capital Fund

Future Media India Ltd.

Future Group

Ambit Investment Advisory Company Limited

Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd.(141224:undefined)141224   On Other Exchanges

Snapshot News Financials People Transactions

MARKET CAP

1.9B

TOTAL REVENUE

76.7B

EBITDA

7.0B

DILUTED EPS TTM

0.51

P/E

--

P/S

--

RETURN ON ASSET

4.33

RETURN ON EQUITY

0.43

K = Thousands  M = Millions  B = Billions

141224 DETAILS

Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the multi-format retail businesses in India. The company operates retail stores in various formats, including fashion, food, general merchandise, home improvement, furnishing solutions, and consumer durables and electronics. It operates Big Bazaar, a hyper market; Food Bazaar, a super market; Pantaloons, a departmental store; Central, Brand Factory, and Home Town that are seamless malls; E Zone, a consumer durable and electronics store, as well as other retail formats, such as aLL and KB Fair Price. The company also offers private labels in various lines of businesses, including John Miller, Lombard, Bare, DJ&C, Buffalo, and RIG in fashion; Tasty Treat, Premium Harvest, Fresh & Pure, Care Mate, and Clean Mate in food and home care; Koryo and Sensei in consumer durables and electronics; and Dreamline in general merchandise and home improvement. In addition, it involves in specialized businesses offering consumer finance, insurance, logistics, brands, media, knowledge services, online retail service, and training in retail services. The

company operates consumer finance through Future Money; and insurance products through Future Generali. As of October 31, 2009, it operated approximately 737 stores in 29 formats in 72 cities in India. The company was formerly known as Pantaloon Fashions (India) Limited and changed its name to Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited in July 1999. Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Mumbai, India.Detailed 141224 Company Description...

www.pantaloon.com

33,576 Employees

Founded in 1987

141224 TOP COMPENSATED OFFICERS

Mr. Kishore Biyani

Managing Director, Executive Promoter Directo...

Age: 47

Total Annual Compensation: 21.0M

Mr. Rakesh Biyani

Whole Time Director, Member of Investor Relat...

Age: 37

Total Annual Compensation: 13.8M

Shri. Gopikishan Biyani

Whole Time Director and Member of Investor Re...

Age: 64

Total Annual Compensation: 5.7M

Executives, Board DirectorsCompensation as of Fiscal Year 2009.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS FOR PANTALOON RETAIL (INDIA) LTD. (141224)

Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd. Reports Consolidated and Standalone Earnings Results for the Full Year Ended June 30, 2010

08/31/2010

Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd. reported consolidated and standalone earnings results for the full year ended June 30, 2010. The company reported consolidated net profit of INR 763.5 million against a net loss of INR 74.6 million in the previous year. During the year, net sales of the company jumped 27.6% to INR 97.86 billion from INR 76.69 billion a year ago. The company has posted a net profit after minority interest of INR 674.90 million for the year ended June 30, 2010 where as the same was at INR 100.70 million for the year ended June 30, 2009. Total Income is INR 99,130.00 million for the year ended June 30, 2010 where as the same was at INR 77,648.00 million for the year ended June 30, 2009. The company's standalone net profit for the year rose 27.7% to INR 1,795.6 million from INR

1,405.8 million. On the other hand, net sales have fallen 6% to INR 59.34 billion in 2009-10 fiscal from INR 63.41 billion last year. Total Income is INR 60,190.00 million for the year ended June 30, 2010 where as the same was at INR 63,477.60 million for the year ended June 30, 2009.

Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd. Recommends Dividend on Convertible Preference Shares and Equity Shares

08/30/2010

Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd. announced that its board of directors at its meeting held on Aug. 28, 2010 has recommended a dividend of 0.01% per convertible preference share, INR 0.80 or 40% per equity share of INR 2 each and INR 0.90 or 45% per class B shares of INR 2 each.

Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd., Annual General Meetings, Oct 25, 2010

08/30/2010

Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd., Annual General Meetings, Oct 25, 2010

The grooming of a BiyaniLike everything else in his business, Kishore Biyani is using an unconventional approach to induct the next generation family members into the Future GroupM ANAND

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It's dinner time at the Biyanis. The man who built a sprawling retail and

consumption business with his unique combination of sheer guts and unconventional wisdom, Kishore Biyani, is sitting opposite his daughter Ashni, 23, at their Napean Sea Road residence in Mumbai. Beside him at the unusuallylow-height dining table sit his niece Vidisha, 26, and nephew Vivek, 24. The words that fly across the meal table, like most other conversations at the Biyani home, are mostly centred around business.

Early next morning, the Future Group CEO, the three younger family members, all of whom joined the business over the past two years, and a bunch of about 20 other key Future Group executives are to catch a flight to Chennai. They are planning a 'deep dive' into the popular retail destinations in the city, including the dirty, bustling and prosperous Ranganathan Street in T Nagar. This is the old-world retail capital of Chennai, and still holds its own against the swanky malls that have sprung up in other parts of the city. The family is visibly excited about this trip, even though this is the last in a long series of deep dive programmes Biyani has done with his family and professional team. Over the past few months, they have hopped across every major city in India.

Such walkabouts are part of Biyani's unique management style. He does it in his stores, he does it in city high streets, he does it abroad. He could make big, impulsive decisions based on hunches he forms during such saunters, and he has almost always proven to be right. He has gleaned many pieces of native wisdom from his many, many visits to traditional markets. And he often uses these to fine-tune strategies at his many modern retail formats. It is very much part of the unconventional manner in which he has built his business. But that's not where his unorthodox ways end. Now, he is again using an unusual route to induct the younger generation of the family into the group business.

Rites of initiation

Two hours before the dinner, Biyani is sitting comfortably cross-legged on the settee. Vivek, dressed in a T-shirt, is next to him; Vidisha is sitting on the floor by the centre table and Ashni in a couch behind her. Such scenes are fairly common in the Biyani family; many strategies have been conceived and many issues have been thrashed out in such relaxed settings. Today, Biyani is spelling out his broad plans for the new generation. Vivek, Ashni and Vidisha already know it. This discourse is for the benefit of this writer.

CATCHING THEM YOUNG: Kishore Biyani with daughter Ashni, niece Vidisha and nephew Vivek (right to left)

His plan will make most patriarchs of large business families flinch: shuffle the young Biyanis across several fairly high-level responsibilities fairly early on; let them fend for themselves without any intervention whatsoever and let them earn the respect of managers, or lose it; mentor them, and over time, pull them completely out of operations, and move them into the strategic role of stewardship and preserving family wealth.

Two broad strokes in Biyani's family succession plan, if you can call it that, are very different from the traditional approach. The classical text-book model in Indian business families, says Biyani, was to have the new family member start at the lowest level, grind his way to the top and eventually become the operational CEO of the company. But in reality, there was often hardly any grind in the process, only a pretext. And the CEO destiny of the family member is a foregone conclusion, whatever be his real capability. The seth could pretend to be a naukar for as long as he wants, but eventually he would become the seth.

Biyani hates such pretexts. The younger Biyanis won't start at the bottom. Nor will they make it to the top, in the sense that they may not become hands-on operational CEOs like Biyani. But they will have a wide variety of fairly senior roles thrust on them fairly early. The idea is to prepare them for broader stewardship and a strategic role as soon as possible, and to steer them away from all operational responsibilities.

"I am playing a little bit of an operating role. But that's not what I want to play and that's not what the next generation should do," says Biyani. He believes that the family members ought not to be accountable for the business numbers, but should instead take on roles in value protection, culture dissemination, managing stakeholder relationships and formulating long-term strategy.

That is why he doesn't want the next generation to waste valuable years muddling through the lower levels of the organisation. He constantly pushes Vivek, Ashni and Vidisha to move to higher and wider roles in the group. "Power has to be taken," he declares. "But they will not be in operational roles. Therefore, there is no problem in them moving up fast," says Biyani.

Hard on the kids

But that's not the gentlest way to introduce the new generation into the family business, especially since Biyani is clear that he will not intervene to help them in any way. "In most other business families, the new generation is totally hidden," he says. "But we expose them completely. We do not let them hide." This story is proof of that. Biyani agreed to allow all three young family members to be interviewed (in his absence) without batting an eyelid. No elaborate corporate communication protocol. No request for quotes to be verified. No subtle hints that the writer be gentle as these are their earliest interviews to the media.

"One of our biggest challenges," says Vivek, "is that people have a certain level of expectation from us. How do we manage it?" Ashni chips in: "We can't impose ourselves as family members. Respect has to be earned; not inherited."

Biyani has no hesitation in saying that any family member who doesn't make the

Vidisha Bagri I 26 I Niece 

Work profile: Leads the home furnishings business 

The story so far: Has seen the business grow from Rs 25 crore to Rs 117 crore, and expects to take it to Rs 300 crore this year - "When we lost our CEO, we looked at a few people. We had a good team. So, I decided to step up and look at the entire business"

cut will be told as much. An hour later when the interview is winding up and when everyone has let their guard down, Ashni becomes visibly agitated that one of her suggestions in a marketing plan has been disregarded. No solace is offered, not even a perfunctory 'I'll look into it' is forthcoming. Biyani merely grunts. "It doesn't help going to him," says Ashni, eyes flaring. "I'd rather talk to them than talk to him."

Biyani doesn't shy away from discussing some of the problems the next generation is facing. "Vidisha lost the CEO of the home furnishings business (that she handles) and came to me. We haven't appointed anyone for three months." They will face such struggles, Biyani says matter-of-factly, over dinner.

It is not just Biyani who dares to tell. Even the younger Biyanis are unafraid to talk about their failures. Ashni recounts a particularly humbling experience on Republic Day. She was at Top10, an apparel store for the young that she helped create. The store was overflowing with stock, and that irked her. "I went into the system, had a quick glance and decided we had to liquidate the stock today." She changed the discount offers and pushed up sales. But next Monday, when she walked into the office of Damodar Mall, CEO, Incubation and Innovation, Future Group, (she works as a part of his team), he bluntly told her that there was a negative margin of 3%. "I was responsible for that loss," she owns up.

But since then, her business analysis skills have improved considerably. Top10 is in 12 locations, and is scaling up to be present in all Central (a mall format) and Pantaloon (a department store format) outlets. Store revenues are about Rs 12,000-15,000 a day, and it offers innovations like a design studio where young customers can design their own T-Shirts and jeans. "Now I can look at a Big Bazaar spreadsheet and understand why the throughput of this store is only so much. Often I sit with dad at meetings and I can tell them that this store can do 20% more."

Vidisha recounts a similar experience. She was launching Dreamline, a home furnishing brand. She took out space from an existing store and started a separate section, for which she invited a celebrity to cut the ribbon. A day before the event, she realised she hadn't got the logistics right and the section hardly had any merchandise. "I had to get special trucks organised to get the stuff in time," she says, with embarrassment. But since then, she too has recovered. Revenues of the home furnishing segment grew to Rs 117 crore last year (up from Rs 25 crore the previous year) "We are looking at Rs 300 crore this year."

The family office

"Sometimes the person who creates wealth also destroys it," Biyani says with disarming candour. "The family needs to protect the creator from destroying it."

Biyani has been studying Hong Kong's Li & Fung family since 1992. The $14 billion group with interests in sourcing, distribution and retailing has grown consistently under three generations of stewardship. One big lesson Biyani gleaned from the Li & Fung story is the importance of a 'family office'. He has set one up now.

Vivek Biyani I 24 I Nephew 

Work profile: Leads the Home Solutions Business 

The story so far: Home Solutions is one of the fastest growing segments for the group, with revenues of Rs 355 crore last year. Has the potential to grow as big as any of the other retail businesses 

- "One of the things I would like to do is to build an ecosystem of entrepreneurs. There are so many opportunities out there"

Ashni Biyani I 23 I Daughter 

Work profile: Works as part of the incubation and new ideas team. But is keenly interested and involved in every aspect of the Future Group business

The story so far: Played a key role in creating Top10, an apparel store for the young. Has all of her Dad's verve 

- "We can't impose ourselves as family members. Respect has to be earned; not inherited. And I can't deny, dad puts us under pressure to grow"

The family office, which also has a team of professional managers to offer advice to the members, manages the family expenses, accounts, philanthropy and investments. "The first vision of the family office is to preserve wealth for the next generation," says Biyani. "Management of the company and management of the family wealth have to be demarcated."

Next, the Biyanis have put together a family constitution. It spells out guidelines and a code of conduct for members to work with. It addresses all issues, including that of family members not inclined to the Future Group business but interested in other avenues. "We have written out the family constitution...now we are moving to the next step of operationalising it," says Biyani.

The family office provides a forum for the members to meet together, discuss and debate issues, and thrash out differences (and there have been a few) and improve overall communication among members. Over the last two years or so, there have been over half a dozen full-fledged family office meetings. Says Biyani: "I don't think communication was great in my parents' generation. It was worse in my generation. But we have to make it better now."

"Is it necessary that a Biyani should succeed you as CEO?" That's a tricky question to answer in the presence of three members of the next generation, all of who could have lofty aspirations. But Biyani answers: "We should no longer behave like entrepreneurs. We should be investors and 'mentor capitalists'. If we move in that direction, the succession issue will not arise at all 10-15 years down the line." Over time, the next generation will move out of the specific business roles they are in and into advisory capacities in the family office. All of them would then function as board members, not management. A family member need not necessarily be the CEO, but all family members interested and trained in the business could be the wise men advising the management.

So does that make succession a non-issue? "It's very simply said," sighs Biyani. "But everything has to fall in place at the right time."

Learn Leadrship from India’s Retails Czar: Kishore Biyani

November 11, 2007 by Mahesh M Piddshetti

Born into a small trading family, India’s retail czar, Kishore Biyani, replaced

conventional wisdom with “guts and instincts” to create Future Group, a $1

billion company that includes Pantaloon Retail, a department store group; Big Bazaar, the company’s

name for hypermarkets; Food Bazaar supermarkets, and Central Mall, a more upscale aggregation of

merchandise. Known for his insights into Indian consumer behavior, Biyani also represents an enigma

to the country’s emerging retail players, both domestic and foreign. He offers some glimpses into what

makes him tick in his recent biography titled, It Happened in India: The Story of Pantaloons, Big

Bazaar, Central and the Great Indian Consumer, co-authored with Dipayan Baishya. The book has sold

some 100,000 copies, more than any other business book published in India so far. In an interview with

India Knowledge@Wharton, Biyani, who has often been called “the Sam Walton of India,” talked about

leadership, the Indian retail market and why he would never consider collaborating with Wal-Mart,

among other topics. Excerpts from the interview follow.

India Knowledge@Wharton: What does leadership mean to you?

Biyani: In the last six months, I have read many articles on leadership and met a couple of experts on

that subject. But I still could not find an answer to what, exactly, leadership means.

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.

India Knowledge@Wharton: What part of leadership is inborn and what can be developed?

Biyani: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.

India Knowledge@Wharton: How do you define thought leadership?

Biyani: Thought leadership is about building scenarios and making them happen. I believe everybody

is a victim of systemic thinking and has their own mental syntax. First things come first, and

everything else is a reflection of where you started on that first thing. If you change that syntax, things

change. If you have a business school orientation, your syntax of thinking will be in a particular

direction. I am a businessman and entrepreneur, so my syntax of thinking will be in a different

direction. Each has a unique method of sequencing to arrive at answers.

One would have to change everything to look at things differently. That is a very difficult thing to do as

we have our own mental maps. We are not trained to change mental models. Business schools also

have not been trained to do that. Business schools work on creating efficiencies, creating productivity

and managing consistency. But life is not like that. Life is chaotic.

….

India Knowledge@Wharton: How have you developed leadership in your organization?

Biyani: We have developed a very different style of leadership. We run a seamless organization. We

don’t have structures; it is a non-hierarchical organization that works with people coming together to

do things.

It is also a very design-driven organization. We believe the structure has to be broken up to change;

the design has to be altered to change things. A design-driven organization has flexibility and

maneuverability. It is an amorphous organization that can be given any shape and any direction

anytime.

India Knowledge@Wharton: Can you give an example of how that works?

Biyani: We can chop and change anything we do, anytime. Nothing is constant for us. Nothing is

constant here. We believe in destroying what we have created.

India Knowledge@Wharton: In your book, you have described three types of entrepreneurs. You

say your father and uncles were “preservers” and you call yourself a “creator” and a “destroyer.”

Biyani: Most people are trained to be preservers. It is great to be a preserver. But for us,

whoever has to create has to destroy. Without destroying, you cannot create anything

new.

That is also the law of nature. Look at the seasons. Everything gets destroyed to create something

new. But unfortunately, business does not take any cues from nature. None of the business schools

takes anything from nature. One cannot go against the flow of nature. In our group, we don’t follow

business principles. We follow the principles of nature.

One of the biggest principles we follow, as I have said in the book, is to go with the flow. We never do

anything against the flow of nature. And when you follow the principles of nature, ideas will get

destroyed and recreated.

If you look at nature, human beings have not changed over a period of so many years. Love, hate and

all the other emotions are still the same. But we all complicate things. We create segments,

psychographics and other indices. It is a simple world, but we break it up and start looking at it

through lenses that are very different. You will find all the answers in nature.

Kishore Biyani's Profile : 

Kishore Biyani is the Managing Director of Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited

and the Group Chief Executive Officer of Future Group. He was born in August

1961.

Kishore is married to Sangita and has two daughters.

Kishore has won following awards and honors:

• 2006 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.

• 2006 Lakshmipat Singhania - IIM Lucknow Young Business Leader award.

• 2006 CNBC First Generation Entrepreneur of the Year award.

More details will be added soon!

Pantaloon Retail

Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited is India's leading retailer that operates multiple retail formats in both the value and lifestyle segment. Pantaloon has ushered a retail revolution in India and its founder Kishore Biyani is known as India's "King of Retail". Pantaloon's headquarter is in Mumbai. The company currently operates over 5 million square feet of retail space and has plans to increase it to 30 million sq. ft by 2011. Pantaloon has plans to open over 3000 new stores by 2010. 

Pantaloon's origin can be traced to 1987 when the company was incorporated as Manz Wear Private Limited. The company launched Pantaloons trouser, India's first formal trouser brand. In 1992, Pantaloon launched its IPO. In 1994, The Pantaloon Shoppe - exclusive menswear store in franchisee format was launched across the country. Pantaloon started distribution of distribution of branded garments through multi-brand retail outlets across the nation. In 2001, Big Bazaar, India's first hypermarket chain was launched. In 2002, Food Bazaar, the supermarket chain was launched. In 2006, Future Capital Holdings, the company's financial arm launched real estate funds, "Kshitij" and "Horizon" and private equity fund "Indivision". The company is also planning forays into insurance and consumer credit. 

Pantaloon Retail is the flagship company of Future Group. The lines of business of Future Group are:

E-commerce: Pantaloon's website Futurebazaar.com has revolutionized the e-commerce business in India. It offers a wide range of products at affordable prices. It has been named as Best Indian Website 2007 in the Shopping category by PC World.

Food: In food business, the group offers a host of options. Food Bazaar - a chain of large supermarkets; Brew Bar - a beer bar; café Bollywood - a national chain of eateries; Chamosa - a pan-Indian chain of snack counters, and Sports Bar - a bistro focused on the world of sports. 

Fashion: The group offers a variety of options in fashion. Its brands include aLL, Blue Sky, Central, Etam, Fashion Station, Gini & Jony, Navaras, Pantaloons, and Top 10.

Home & Electronics: Options include: Collection i - a lifestyle furniture store; Electronics Bazaar - offers branded electronic goods and appliances; e-zone - trendiest electronics items; Furniture Bazaar - entire range of Home Furniture; Home Town - one stop destination for all the home needs.

Leisure & Entertainment: Options are: Bowling Co. - state-of-the-art premium family entertainment centre, offering multiple, novel and unique leisure and entertainment options; F 123 - offers a wide range of gaming options ranging from bowling and pool to redemption and interactive video games to bumper cars.

Wellness & Beauty: Options are: Health Village - a state-of-the art spa and yoga centre; Star & Sitara: Beauty salon for men and women; Tulsi - provides access to the best allopathic, ayurvedic and homeopathic medicinal products; Turmeric - offers beauty products like colour cosmetics, fragrances, herbal and specialty skin items, hair products and bath accessories.

Books & Music: Future Group's brand - "Depot" offers Books, CDs, and stationery items. 

Major Achievements of Pantaloon Retail

Chosen as International Retailer for the Year 2007

Chosen as Emerging Market Retailer of the Year 2007

Best Employers in India (Rank 14th) in the Hewitt Best Employers 2007 survey.

Best Managed Company in India (Mid-cap) for the year 2006.

Won Images Retail Awards 2006 for Best Value Retail Store, Best Retail Destination, and Best Food &

Grocery Store.

How Kishore Biyani hooks India Inc's top talent Story

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MUMBAI: When V Vaidyanathan decided to leave ICICI after 10 years to build the financial services business of the Future Group, he became another addition to the list of top managers who couldn’t refuse what Kishore Biyani was offering them. In 2010, seven managers of high standing have joined the $2-billion retail group in some corner office or the other. 

Expect more big signings, says Mr Biyani, CEO, Future Group. “We have identified another five to seven top people in the country, and we are working on getting them,” he says. If Reliance Industries is the second life for senior government employees, if ICICI is the talent farmhouse, the Future Group is fast emerging as the landing point for accomplished private-sector managers. 

Mr Biyani likes to invoke Hindu mythology to explain how he manages to constantly convince the best managers to come work for him. “You take care of Lakshmi (wealth), Saraswati (intellectual growth) and Durga (emotional well-being) for them,” he says. “The rest, like productivity and commitment, is sure to follow.” What he doesn’t say in so many words is the Biyani touch he adds to ‘take care’ of those essentials. 

The Biyani touch was visible right through his negotiations with his latest managerial coup, Mr Vaidyanathan, former head of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. On a flight to Hyderabad, in what was a chance meeting, they talked business for the first time. Mr Vaidyanathan was intrigued, but not convinced. Mr Biyani persisted. Over the next three months, they met thrice at both their homes. Mr Biyani met Mr Vaidyanathan’s father, wife and children. Mr Vaidyanathan met Mr Biyani’s family. 

Eventually, what clinched Mr Vaidyanathan’s signature was one word from Mr Biyani, one word that imbibed Lakshmi, Saraswati and Durga together: ‘intra-preneurship’, or making employees co-owners. 

Mr Vaidyanathan is likely to pick up a stake in the financial services business he will be spearheading. “I feel like a promoter,” says Mr Vaidyanathan. “This is different from the career path I’ve enjoyed so far.” 

That was the idea, says Mr Biyani. “We want to promote the idea of ‘intra-preneurship’ in the group,” he says. “It removes insecurities and fears from the minds of people and the commitment levels go up sharply. People then begin to enjoy what they do.” Mr Biyani says co-ownership is not always possible in the older companies. “But we are trying it out through several other programmes in new companies such as Future Agrovet, Future Farm Fresh and Future Capital Holdings (FCH).” 

Another who was pulled in by Mr Biyani’s ‘intra-preneur’ pitch was R Radhakrishnan, the ex-CEO of Reliance Retail’s hypermarket business, who was involved in setting up the Reliance Fresh format and had earlier worked with Foodworld Supermarkets and Hindustan Unilever. After quitting Reliance Retail in 2009, Mr Radhakrishnan set up a supply chain and logistics consultancy. 

When he made a pitch to manage the Future Group’s supply chain, Mr Biyani asked him why he quit Reliance. Mr Radhakrishnan said he wanted to be an entrepreneur. On the spot, Mr Biyani asked him to handle the group’s fresh foods (fruit & vegetable) business as an entrepreneur. Mr Radhakrishnan now heads Future Fresh Foods, where he has a stake, the exact amount of which is being worked out. He

says: “I think he (Mr Biyani) knew that, in my heart, I did not want to be an employee, but an entrepreneur. He immediately offered to set up a separate company.” 

Kishore Biyani: New face of Indian retail

Biyani, 45, is CEO, Future Group, which is designed to cater to the entire Indian consumption space. 

After graduating in commerce, Biyani joined the family textiles business. Five years later he launched the first branded ready-made trouser, called Pantaloon, marketed through The Pantaloon Shoppe.

 

  Founded in 1987, as a garment manufacturing company, Pantaloon entered modern retail in 1997 with the opening of a chain of department stores, Pantaloons. In 2001, Biyani evolved a pan-Indian, class-less model — Big Bazaar, a hypermarket chain, leading to the democratisation of shopping in India. With Food Bazaar, a supermarket chain, he blended the look, touch and feel of Indian bazaars with western hygiene and it has now evolved into the favoured destination for Indian homemakers. 

The Future Group operates through six verticals: Future Retail (encompassing all lines of retail business), Future Capital (financial products and services), Future Brands (all brands owned or managed by group companies), Future Space (management of retail real estate), Future Logistics (management of supply chain and distribution) and Future Media (development and management of retail media spaces).

The group's flagship enterprise, Pantaloon Retail, is India's leading retail company with presence in food, fashion and footwear, home solutions and consumer electronics, books and music, health, wellness and beauty, general merchandise, communication products, e-tailing and leisure, and entertainment.

The company owns and manages multiple retail formats catering to a wide cross-section of the Indian society and its width and depth of merchandise helps it capture almost the entire consumption basket of the Indian consumer. Headquartered in Mumbai, the company operates through 3.5-million square feet of retail space, has over 100 stores across 25 cities in India and employs over 12,000 people.

The company has also launched Central, a first of its kind, seamless mall located

in the heart of major Indian cities. Some of it's other formats include, Collection I (home improvement products), E-Zone (consumer electronics), Depot (books, music, gifts and stationaries), aLL (fashion apparel for plus-size individuals) and Blue Sky (fashion accessories).

Some of the group's subsidiaries include Home Solutions Retail India Ltd, Future Bazaar India Ltd and ConvergeM Retail India Ltd, which leads the group's foray into home improvement, e-tailing and communication products, respectively. Other group companies include, Pantaloon Industries Ltd, Galaxy Entertainment and Indus League Clothing. It has also entered joint venture agreements with a number of companies including ETAM group, Gini & Jony, Liberty Shoes and Planet Sports, a company that owns the franchisee of international brands like Marks & Spencer, Debenhams, Guess and The Body Shop in India.

Future Capital Holdings, the group's financial arm, recently raised $1.1 billion in private equity funds for investment in retail real estate and consumer-related industries. Apart from asset managment, it also plans to get into insurance, consumer credit and offer other financial products and services.