When Big Bazaar opened its doors, it also opened with it a completely new chapter for

retail in India. As commonly referred to as the poster boy of Indian retail, Kishore Biyani
can easily be credited of changing the way India shopped. He set a trend for many to
follow. And the journey still continues.
!rom setting up the first "antaloons store in #ariahat, Kol$ata in August %&&' and then
the first Big Bazaar in (umbai at the High )treet "hoeni* (ills in +,,+, Kishore Biyani
has redefined a lot many rules. But as he better puts it across for us, -I based e.erything
on one philosophy/ rewrite rules but retail .alues. 0hase your dreams but don1t
compromise on your belief system.2 3oday, with a pan India presence, !uture #roup is a
well4$nown household name. !rom products to insurance to real estate, the company has
its wings spread far and wide. 3o come to thin$ of it, end number of accolades fall short
for Kishore Biyani and his empire that he has built 5 right from scratch that too6
3he story of his journey is pretty well4$nown. A lot many times it has been discussed and
spo$en about at .arious seminars and conferences. We all $now what led to the inception
of "antaloons. "erhaps, $eeping the conte*t of the 'th anni.ersary issue in mind, it is
only apt then that we tal$ about that ma$es him what he is6
As with most other children belonging to a middle4class family in Indi, Biyani1s
childhood was far or less on the same lines. )chool, friends, organizing society e.ents,
cric$et and college. But what perhaps was different was his approach to all of the abo.e.
7eminiscing the early days, Biyani shares, -We were the 8uintessential Indian household
and watching mo.ies was a family passion. In the e.enings, our grand4father would gi.e
us lessons in Indian .alues and we all would assemble around him. 9nce a year, we were
re8uired to read the whole 7amayana and occasionally .isit the Hanuman (andir at
:ohar 0hawl in (umbai, none of which I particularly enjoyed. !rom a fairly early age, I
was completely against any religious practice or rituals and was 8uite open about it. I was
always eager to get into an argument with my elders at the drop of a hat.2
Adds Biyani, -!rom the .ery beginning, I was obsessed with rationality. 3o ma$e me do
something, someone had to gi.e me a .ery good reason or offer some amount of logic.
(ay be I had read somewhere that human being are rational and that stuc$ on, so I ne.er
had 8ualms in brea$ing dogmatic rules. In fact, I li$ed being a rebel in an e*tremely
traditional family.2 !or him, this attitude of his to 8uestion e.erything has helped him in
many ways. As he puts it, -If things are accepted the way they are ongoing, then there is
little scope for anything new to come up.2
!rom early on, Biyani had his goals in place, not defined to anything in particular but he
was sure he had to do something different 5 something that would be $nown. His first
mental mentor was ;hirubhai Ambani. )hares Biyani, -In college, we used to .isit
9beroi1s )amar$and restaurant at times. 3he reason why I li$ed to .isit this hotel was
because I came to $now that ;hirubhai Ambani came to the hotel1s health club almost
other day. <.en if I could get a glimpse of him, I would be o.erjoyed. 7eliance in the
early %&=,s had established itself strongly. I was 8uite fascinated by the company and its
growth. I started reading about business during my college days and ;hirubhai Ambani
was my first mental mentor, my personal role model. 3o me, he was a li.ing proof of my
belief that irrespecti.e of one1s bac$ground, it was possible to scale the heights of
success.2 <laborating on this, he further shares, -I did not ha.e a mentor and most
successful entrepreneurs don1t necessarily ha.e the lu*ury of ha.ing one. I created my
own >mental1 mentors, studied .arious subjects ad eagerly sought $nowledge. I strongly
belie.e that there is a hard and arduous journey that one has to underta$e alone.2
Ha.ing a bac$ground in 0ommerce, Biyani went ahead to pursue .ocational training in
typing, he then did a course in import and e*port of garments and joined a programme
run by the sil$ manufacturers1 association 5 )asmira. As he says, -At one point, I almost
decided to become a chartered accountant and e.en cleared the preliminary e*ams. But
then I figured that 0A coursewor$ was too specialized and not meant for me. 7ather than
a specialist, I wanted to be a generalist 5 a jac$ of all trades and master of some.2
Biyani1s first brush with retailing was when as a teenager he .isited the 0entury Bazaar
store in 0entral (umbai. 7ecounting his e*perience then, he shares, -It was bigger and
brighter than what it is today. It had low ceilings that made it seem crowded and
e.erything was sold o.er the counter, from .inyl records to apparels. 3he sheer size of
the place and .ariety of merchandize got etched in my mind. It was probably then that I
decided to create something similar or e.en better than this.2 3owards the final year of
his college, he started .isiting his family office at Kalbade.i in (umbai. ?ot too happy
with the way the business was being carried out, he decided early on that he wasn1t going
to continue in the family trade. As he shares, -I saw little reason in becoming the ninth
member of the family to get in.ol.ed in the same old routine. What I found .ery
disagreeable in the business was the obsession with the financial control. 3he business
was following a modified .ersion of parta, a traditional form of accounting practiced
mostly by the (arwari community in India. 3his system allows ibe to micro@manage,
but it doesn1t help one to grow the business. And if there are only accountants in each
part of the business, where are the entrepreneurs going to come fromA2
Biyani categorizes entrepreneurs in three categories 5 creators, preser.ers and destroyers.
!or him, his father and uncles, much li$e most other entrepreneurs in India, were
preser.ers. -I consider myself to be both creator and destroyer. A continuous process of
change and of growth has to be there in e.ery business. If a business doesn1t grow and
e.ol.e, it is not an enterprise at all,2 shares Biyani.
With this bent of mind, Biyani went ahead to car.e a niche for himself and his group
across .arious categories and in the bargain he was often as$ed 5 -What is your core
competenceA2 )ome companies ma$e only cars, some ma$e only steering wheels and
some ma$e only ball bearings. But how does a retailer sell insurance, run restaurants,
manage pri.ate e8uity funds and charge brands for airing their ad.ertisements on :0;
screens within his storeA <*plains Biyani, -3he notion of core competency is no longer
defined in terms of a single product or ser.ice. It has to be defined in terms of
$nowledge, ideas and intangible assets. 9ur core competency lies in understanding and
deli.ering to Indian consumers. We wont ma$e steel, neither will we build cars or set up
large petrochemical comple*es. But where.er there is a direct customer interface, we
will try to capture some .alues in some form.2