Kishore Biyani: History, Career and Growth

Kishore Biyani: Kishore Biyani is an Indian businessman who founded and ran Future Group, one of the country’s largest brick-and-mortar retailers. He also founded retail companies such as Pantaloon Retail and Big Bazaar.

About Kishore Biyani

• Kishore Biyani is the founder and CEO of the $4.6 billion (revenue) retailing behemoth Future Group.
• The company’s subsidiaries include the hypermarket chain Big Bazaar, the food retailer Food Hall, and the convenience store chain EasyDay.
• Biyani began with a trouser brand called Pantaloons in 1987, but an expansion spree saddled him with debt, forcing him to sell Pantaloons.
• Biyani’s Future Retail shares soared after re-listing as an asset-light, pure-play retailer in August 2016.
• Biyani’s Future Retail agreed to sign a master franchise agreement in February 2019 to develop and operate 7-Eleven stores in India.

Retail career

Biyani, who admitted to making “whimsical decisions,” had ignored the popular belief that retail businesses should be modeled after those in the West and instead focused on concepts familiar to Indians. His communication with the media and financiers and his staff recruitment choices had been criticized.

Biyani’s accomplishments with Big Bazaar started turning him into a highly regarded figure in the Indian retail sector and a magnet for media attention. He was initially regarded as an extravagant risk-taker, insufficient in worthy business connections, and his peers shunned him for all of these reasons.

He was running the country’s largest retailer and had been named retailer of the year by the National Retail Federation, which had previously refused to admit him. He was, however, up against the much larger resources of megacorporations such as Aditya Birla Group and Reliance Industries, both of which had indicated a desire to enter the retail sector.

The Decline of Kishore Biyani Businesses

Aside from the potential threat by the mega-corporations, the 2008 economic downturn impacted Biyani’s business and methods. Planned expansion and scaling back were postponed in some areas.   Unlike other Indian retail chains, such as Shoppers Stop, which used a comparatively tiny amount of short-term borrowing and then financed growth with cash generated internally from sales, he relied heavily on short-term borrowing for expansion and diversification into various retail areas such as book-selling and salons. The debt-to-equity ratio at Pantaloons Retail was 3:1.

Biyani responded to the crisis by significantly reducing the number of his mid-level management staff and restructuring his corporate interests. He appointed a cousin, Rakesh Biyani, who was more methodical and patient than he was, to take over his responsibility for the retail business, specifically to address disputes with the poor supply chain and domestic distribution logistics caused by rapid expansion.

He also rolled over debt, converting it into loans with maturities ranging from three to five years, and exited joint venture agreements with companies such as Etam.