Kishore Biyani

Kishore Biyani
Born August 9, 1961
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Residence Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Nationality India Indian
Occupation Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer, Future Group
Spouse(s) Sangita Biyani

Kishore Biyani (born on August 9, 1961) is the Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer India’s leading Retail Company, Future Group. Future Group mainly deals in retail chains spread over the space of 20 million square feet in more than 240 cities in India and attracts over 370 million customer visits annually. As the Group CEO of Future Group, Kishore leads a strong leadership team that delivers on Future Group’s vision of making India a ‘Sone Ki Chidiya’ once again. Biyani is married to Sangita Biyani and they have two daughters, Ashni Biyani and Avni Biyani. His elder daughter Ashni is a director of Future Ideas, Group's innovation and incubation cell and younger daughter Avni Biyani is Concept Head of a premium food destination, Foodhall.

Early life

Born in a business class marwari family, his father Laxmi Narayan Biyani owned a fabric shop in Mumbai’s Kalba Devi Market. He completed his schooling from Manava Mandir School and graduated in commerce from KC College, Mumbai. After completion of his graduation he started his known venture known as WBB, which dealt in stonewash fabric.

Initially after few failures in the business plans during 90’s he saw an opportunity in the Retail Industry and hence was the birth of Pantaloons in 1997.

Career

Though hailing from a business family, Kishore Biyani’s first venture happened almost by chance. During the early ’80s he noticed the trend of ‘stonewashed’ fabric being used for trousers. Riding on this demand, Biyani began the business of supplying stonewashed fabric to local shops in South Mumbai. This small business gave him the first taste of entrepreneurial success. The initial success encouraged Biyani to launch his own brand of fabric for men’s trousers called WBB - White Brown and Blue. In 1987, Biyani started a new company called Manz Wear Private Limited , which was dedicated to manufacturing garments. These brands were sold under in the retail stores of Pantaloons Shoppe. Manz Wear Private Limited initially supplied garments to few apparel outlets, but Biyani quickly expanded its scope and established a network of franchise stores that sold Pantaloon trousers only. In 1991, Manz Wear was converted into a public limited company and the name was changed to Pantaloon Fashions (India) Limited . By 1994, the Pantaloons franchise chain had achieved a turnover of Rs 9,000,000 . The company also launched shirt brand ‘John Miller’ . In 1996, when Biyani was contemplating making Pantaloons a large format retail store, he stumbled upon a 8,000 square foot property at Gariahat in Kolkata . At that time, the biggest stores in the city were no more than 4,000 sq ft. This led to the launch of the first departmental store of Pantaloons in 1997 . In 2001, Kishore led the creation of Big Bazaar, a uniquely Indian hypermarket network that connects thousands of small and large manufacturers to millions of customers. Big Bazaar today is counted among the five most trusted brands in the services sector in India. (refer Brand Equity Nielsen Study) Since then, a number of retail chains have become part of Future Group. Some of these include,Central, Brand Factory, HomeTown, eZoneonline.in . He has led the acquisition of a number of chains including Nilgiris, EasyDay,Aadhaar and fabfurnish.com.

Collectively, these are spread over almost 20 million square feet of retail space in over 240 cities and towns in India and on various digital platforms. Future Group stores attract over 370 million customers annually and are served by over 45,000 customer associates directly employed by the Group and almost million people who are directly or indirectly associated with the Group’s businesses. The group has also developed an extensively portfolio of brands in the fashion, food and beauty space that are retailed through its own outlets as well as through other competing chains. In the fashion space, some of Future Group brands include, Scullers, Indigo Nation, Jealous, Lee Cooper, Converse, John Miller, Bare, UMM, Knighthood etc. In the FMCG space, Future Group brands include, Tasty Treat, Sunkist, Veg Affair, Golden Harvest, Nilgiris, Kosh, Sangi’s Kitchen, among others. Valuing and nurturing relationships is a key value championed by Kishore and reflects in the strong partnerships the group has developed with entrepreneurs, developers, investors, service providers and domestic and foreign organizations across various industries. Some of the key joint venture partners of the group include, British footwear market, Clarks, Europe’s leading insurer, Generali Group and British consumer analytics firm, dunnhumby and the group has invested in businesses started by over a dozen of its supply partners and entrepreneurs. Kishore is a firm believer in the maxim of ‘Rewrite Rules, Retain Values.’ He was born in Mumbai in 1961. In 2007, he authored the book, ‘It Happened in India.’ Kishore and his wife, Sangita have two daughters, Ashni and Avni Biyani.

Interests

At the initial stage of his career, Kishore Biyani spontaneously rented small halls or simple shops to showcase his products. This helped him understand his consumers better. Future Group employees say that Biyani can often be seen standing at the mall atrium, watching his customers. Understanding people and their attitude is said to be one of his main interests. People known to him say that Biyani has a sixth sense of what customers want and he does everything possible to gauge the pulse of the Indian customer. He also has keen interest in Bollywood and was associated with two movies- Na Tum Jaano Na Hum and Chura Liya Hai Tumne. Both these movies contain an inherent retail theme.

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