Kishore Biyani

CEO of Future Group

Net worth: US$475 million (2011)

Born on the 9th of August 1961; the Sam Walton of India – Kishore Biyani CEO of the Future Group and also the founder of retail businesses such as Pantaloon Retail and Big Bazaar.

Presently valued at more than $1.3 Billion, Kishore is the man who had taken the retail industry by a storm and now has zillions of successes listed under his name and along with that, he has also seen his share of failures too! Today, the Future Group has more than 70 Million sqft of retail space in 90 cities and 60 rural locations, and is also in plans to add in more 9 Million sqft in the years to come.

He has also co-authored his own auto-biography – “It happened in India: the Story of Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Central and the Great Indian Consumer”, along with Dipayan Baishya. The book so far has sold almost 100,000 copies, which is far more than any other business book published in India.

Personally, Kishore has completed his graduation in the field of Commerce from the H.R. College and simply loves playing Tennis & is often seen placing a bet before the game begins. Based in Mumbai, he is married to Sangita Biyani and together, they have two children. His elder daughter Ashni (textile design graduate from Parsons, New York) is a director of Future Ideas, group’s innovation and incubation cell.

Today, the company has grown on to transform into a manifold of empires of its own which eventually fall under one single umbrella – Future Group! The group is now known for having an important standing in the Indian retail and fashion sectors, with their popular supermarket wings.

Pantaloon Retail stores as of date, occupy more than 70 million square feet of retail space all over the country, employ more than 35,000 people, have more than one-fourth of the population i.e. 300 Million people visiting or revisiting the stores every year, makes a net income of more than INR 960.18 crores i.e. $150 Million (2013) annually and have also expanded into other fields as well.

To operate more systematically; after the sale of Pantaloons, the group has been resorted and restructured into: –

· Future Retail Ltd (initially Pantaloons Retail India Ltd) [Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, FBB, Home Town, E Zone, Foodhall, FutureBazaar.com, etc],

· Future Lifestyle Fashion Ltd [Central, Brand Factory, Planet Sports, etc],

· Future Consumer Enterprise Limited [KB’s FairPrice, Aadhaar, Big Apple, etc],

· Fashion and Lifestyle [Indigo Nation, John Millers, Lombard, Manchester United, UMM Lee Cooper, Celio, Tresmode, etc]

· Integrated Foods and FMCG [Tasty Treat, Fresh & Pure, Ektaa, Premium Harvest, Mera Swad, Pratha, Punya, Sach, etc]

And by 2020, Kishore plans to transform the Future Group into a technology company as well, and by that, it means the company would be more of an analytics company than a retail one.

Kishore is one of the very few men who have managed to build an entire empire, all by himself, and without any godfathers or family backing.

And clearly not that everything that Mr. Kishore Biyani has tried, has worked out in his favour, just like every other human being and a successful businessman.

But that has not stopped him from constantly experimenting or trying out new ideas and that is exactly the key to any success! Keep Trying.