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.

Kishore Biyani
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Kishore Biyani

August 9, 1961 (age 49)

Born
Rajasthan, India
Residence Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Nationality Indian
Occupation MD & Chairman of Future Group
Net worth $0.912 billion (2010)[1]
Spouse Sangita

Kishore Biyani (Rajasthani: िकशोर िबयानी; born 9 August 1961) is an entrepreneur who has been
credited[citation needed] with changing the face of modern retailing in India, with the introduction of
innovation designed discount hyper markets and forming the concept of destination malls.
His company, Future Group operates 3 million square feet of retail space spread across 25 cities
in India. The most notable formats being Big Bazaar, Pantaloons and Central chain of shops. He
has been called India's own Sam Walton[citation needed].

Bloomberg Businessweek listed him among India's 50 Most Powerful People in 2009.[2]

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Board Members MEMBERSHIPS

• 2 EDUCATION
• 3 Books by Kishore Biyani
• 4 References

• 5 Sources

[edit] Board Members MEMBERSHIPS

Kishore Biyani is the Managing Director of Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited and the Group
Chief Executive Officer of Future Group. He has led Pantaloon Retail’s emergence as the India’s
leading retailer operating multiple retail formats that now cater to almost the consumption basket
of a large section of Indian consumers.

Kishore Biyani led the company’s foray into organised retail with the opening up of the
Pantaloons family store in 1997. This was followed in 2001 with the launch of Big Bazaar, a
uniquely Indian hypermarket format that democratized shopping in India. It blends the look,
touch and feel of Indian bazaars with aspects of modern retail like choice, convenience and
quality.[citation needed] This was followed by a number of other formats including Food Bazaar,
Central and Home Town.

The year, 2006 marked the evolution of Future Group, that brought together the multiple
initiatives taken by group companies in the areas of Retail, Brands, Space, Capital, Logistics and
Media.

Kishore Biyani advocates ‘Indianness’ as the core value driving the group. The group’s corporate
credo is ‘Rewrite Rules, Retain Values.’

Kishore Biyani was born in August, 1961 and is married to Sangita and they have two daughters.
He recently authored a book, ‘It Happened In India’ that captures his entrepreneurial journey and
the growth of modern retailing in India. Kishore Biyani is actively associated with various
companies in various capacities. Some of them being;

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

Committee 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
• 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.

• Independent Director, Chairman of Compensation Committee and Member of Audit
Committee Embassy Property Developments Limited

[edit] EDUCATION
Bachelor's Degree HR College of Commerce Mumbai

[edit] Books by Kishore Biyani

• It Happened In India: The Big Story of Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Central - The Great
Indian Consumer, Rupa & Co., 2007, ISBN 978-81-291-1137-1
Guess what? 3 million square feet of retail space spread across 25 cities where 12 crore Indians
will shop this year!

This is Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited, (a Pantaloon Knowledge Group Company) - India’s face
of organised retail business.

Presently, in to five lines of businesses – fashion and footwear, food, general merchandise, leisure
& entertainment and home – the company operates multiple delivery formats : the fashion store
format under the Pantaloons brand; the showcase seamless mall under the Central brand; the
hypermarket discount store format under the Big Bazaar brand; the food & grocery retail format
under the Food Bazaar brand, and apparel stores under Fashion Station.

The Company plans entry in telecommunications retail and other lines of businesses such as
wellness and beauty as well as books and music, besides pantalooning a portal for e-retailing in
the near future as another delivery format.

A retailer by karma and a nationalist by dharma, Managing Director of Pantaloon Retail (India)
Limited, Kishore Biyani prides in being Indian and advocates ‘Indianness’ as the core value
driving his company. He also stresses on the importance on continuous “Introspection” and is a
firm believer in learning, unlearning and re-learning all the time. His passion is ‘observing’ and
he enjoys watching Hindi drama and cinema. He is a compulsive reader.

Kishore Biyani shares his views on Pantaloon and the Indian retail sector on Face2face.
•

fibre2fashio Where do you stand in the retailing sector?

n:

Mr. Kishore India is still in the nascent stage of organized retailing and is constantly evolving. Pantaloon
Biyani Retail (I) Limited is a front runner in India’s modern retail space and we represent fashion
,food, general merchandise and other lines of business, through multiple delivery formats,
primarily catering to the lifestyle and value customers.

The company has stores in nearly 30 cities across the country, constituting over 2.7 million
square feet of retail space. The company has also signed close to 10 million sq. ft. of retail
space to be operational by end 2008, which represents 20-30 % of all modern retail space
coming up in the next three years. Over 200 million footfalls are expected in our stores by
2006-07.

I believe that consumption will be the next big driver of India’s economic growth. Rising
incomes and increased exposure to global products and global consumption patterns have
changed the average Indian’s attitude towards consumption and savings.
Consumption = Development. Increased and channelised consumption would lead to the
development of the nation through improved and better infrastructure facilities, greater
employment generation possibilities will emerge with increased consumption, leading to
people wanting to spend more on themselves. This cycle is what will fuel the consumption
boom in the country.

fibre2fashio What are the other retailing/non-retailing areas you are looking at?
n:

Mr. Kishore We are in the process of constant evolution and firmly believe in creating the present, with
Biyani the future in mind. We have only one vision-to capture the highest share of the consumers
wallet.
This is what has led us to believe that apart from our core strengths in fashion, food and
general merchandise, we will operate through various formats in other lines of businesses;
complete home solutions, leisure & entertainment, wellness, communications and financial
 products.

We also have two AMC’s. One that specializes in Property and the other is a ‘Consumer
India Fund’. The property fund aims at sourcing high quality property at the lowest possible
rates, while the consumer fund will look at providing our retail pipeline and expertise to
national and regional brands, thereby enabling them with a wider coverage.

fibre2fashio Who are your major competitors? What is your share in the market?
n:

Mr. Kishore We operate in a competitive environment. For each line of business, we would face
Biyani competition from established national and regional companies. In the fashion segment, we
probably face competition from Shoppers Stop, Trent and Lifestyle. The hypermarket
business is relatively new, being just about three to four years old in the country. We face
competition from the likes of RPG (Spencer’s), Trent (Star India Bazaar) and with Shoppers
Stop too indicating their entry into the hypermarket segment. In the Food business, we face
competition from Subhiksha, Food World to name a few.

fibre2fashio What is the market and mind share you are looking at in the next five years?
n:

Mr. Kishore At Pantaloon we do not look at market shares. Though we have secured 30% of modern
Biyani retail space coming up in the next three years, our endeavour is to keep evolving with the
young Indian consumer. As regards mind share, we want all our store formats to capture
the imagination of the target customer.

fibre2fashio What are the major trends retailers should expect this year?
n:

Mr. Kishore In India, organized retail constitutes about 3% of total retail and is poised to reach 15-20%
Biyani in the next few years, which translates into a 40% CAGR. This indicates tremendous
potential for the sector for the next few years.

The future will also see the pantaloon of several new concepts targeted at the Indian
consumer.

Further, retail development will not just occur in Tier 1 cities, but will have far more
significance in Tier 2 & 3 cities as well. The consumption drive would be fueled in smaller
towns and cities.

There would be definite customer responsiveness towards Value Added products and
services in the next few years. Since value retailing touches the mass of the population, and
with organized retailing at about US $ 300 billion at present, value retailing has the scope to
almost double.

fibre2fashio Can you do meaningful transactions on the Internet?

n:
Mr. Kishore I believe that inspite of online retailing being in its infancy in India, it could provide a
Biyani completely new dimension to retail.

There is a new and fast emerging population of customers called ‘Netizens’ who are
spending more time in front of their PC’s. They are increasing by the day and are the ones
who prefer to transact and communicate over the internet.

We looked at this opportunity and hence our likely foray in the E-tailing space.

fibre2fashio What do you include in your coverage area? What issues and trends bind them
n: together?

Mr. Kishore All our lines of business are consumer centric and I believe that if we are to be in the larger
Biyani consumer space, we would need to keep changing, evolving and accordingly be flexible in
our business plans. Consumers are the same everywhere; we are only bound by our social
systems. Their desires, greeds and needs are similar. The value for money proposition is so
ingrained in the Indian consumers mind that he needs to be shown true value all the time.
Therefore, all our current and future businesses would necessarily have the common
denominator as the consumer.

All our alliances and relationships with many company’s have been built, keeping the
synergies of business and consumer offerings in mind.

fibre2fashio How do you go about inspiring your employees to do their best?

n:

Mr. Kishore The entrepreneurial culture and spirit prevails in the company, whereby the appetite for
Biyani taking risks is encouraged. We believe in learning while doing, and this what has helped us
on our journey. We do not believe in any rigid organizational structure and instead prefer an
organization design approach.

Our employees are completely empowered individuals who are encouraged to think out of
the box, use scenario planning as a tool for quick decision making, adopt design
management as an approach which requires an individual to use both sides of the brain
while evaluating business propositions, etc.

We have been recognized as the most preferred employer in the retail sector. We employ
close to 10,000 people and recruit nearly 500 additional people every month. We follow the
Balanced Score card approach; a very critical strategic tool while evaluating an individual’s
performance.

fibre2fashio What is it that you enjoy most about being in this line of business?
n:

Mr. Kishore That in our business, customer decides your fate. To observe them shop and evolve excites
Biyani me. I firmly believe that consumption= development and retail will play a role in accelerating
India’s economic growth, and that I want to play a role here. Besides, providing employment
opportunities to hundreds also gives me satisfaction.
fibre2fashio What was your biggest break in the retail business?
n:

Mr. Kishore There have been pleasant and not so pleasant moments in my journey so far, but we have
Biyani learnt from our mistakes and celebrated our successes.
I consider two or three moments as memorable to me. Firstly, the company’s entry into
organized retailing with the first Pantaloon store at Gariahat, Kolkata.
Secondly, the acceptance of Big Bazaar as a fashion value format by the Indian consumer,
across India.
The third possible break for us a company, was when we ventured into cities and towns like
Sangli, Durgapur, Nasik and were surprised to see the rising consumerism there, which
made me believe that retail is not just an urban phenomenon.