Kishore Biyani 

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Following above you will read today success story of Mr. Kishore Biyani :  

A true Indian retail czar, Kishore Biyani is the Group CEO of Future Group and Managing Director of Pantaloon Retail. Popularly known as KB, he is the man who triggered the concept of retail supermarkets in India like Big Bazaar, Pantaloon, Mega Mart and Bangalore Central. With his sheer ‘guts and instincts’ he created Future Group, a USD 1 billion enterprise spearheaded the emergence of Pantaloon Retail as the leading retailer in the country.

Born on August 9, 1961 into a small trading family, Biyani started his first business enterprise selling stonewash fabric to small shops in Mumbai. Famous for his unconventional style of running the business he was initially written off by the media. His stores were referred as 'dirty’ and he was never called for any trade body meetings or investors conference. Biyani defied the status quo and challenged the conventional mindset by significantly thinking big.

A staunch believer in the group’s corporate credo, ‘Rewrite Rules, Retain Values,’ Biyani considers indianness as the core value driving the group. Led by its flagship enterprise Pantaloon Retail, today operates around 16 million square feet of retail space in over 85 cities and towns and 65 rural locations across India. Headquartered in Mumbai it employs around 35,000 people and is listed on the Indian stock exchanges.

Future Group’s retail arm follows a multi-format retail strategy and some of its leading formats include Big Bazaar, Central Food Bazaar, Pantaloons, Ezone, Home Town and Planet Sports. It also operates popular shopping portal, futurebazaar.com and rural retail chain, Aadhar. Future Group’s other businesses include financial services, insurance, brand development and logistics.

While retail continues to form the core business of Future Group its appetite for food is steadily increasing with newer retail formats and is scaling up operations with Foodhall, its latest venture into the food retail space, which would offer a different format to cater to the growing aspirations of the consumers. Its tag line ‘for the love of food’ has strike a chord with the consumers to take the food retail business to next level.

Presently, the company’s existing food retail chains comprise the no-frills, small format KB’s fair price stores, Food Bazaar and Food Rite. Foodhall will be the fourth organized food retailing chain in the group’s portfolio. Targeting affluent consumers its aim is to tap the urban Indian consumer who wants to experiment with both imported food items like wines and chocolates and grocery regulars like exotic spices and organic lentils. It is for the discerning customer and will be opened in 15 different locations with the largest one coming up on MG road in Bangalore.

Another venture, Future Fresh is into the supply of fruits and vegetables and is sourcing from across the world, from New Zealand to Canada. It is also setting up supply chains of food and vegetables. The idea is to give consistency and quality in fruits and vegetables in the long run coupled with world class technology and processes.

The 49-year-old maverick received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. In year 2006 he was awarded ‘The First Generation Entrepreneur of the Year’ by CNBC Indian Business Leaders. The same year he was awarded the ‘Young Business Leader’ conferred by the IIM Lucknow National Leadership.

He recently authored the book, ‘It Happened In India.’ which traces his struggle, failures, restlessness, and sheer grit. The book has sold some 100,000 copies, more than any other business book published in India so far. Often been called ‘the Sam Walton of India,’ Biyani’s success is a classic example of how deep insights can create an impregnable differentiator among your competition which are purely led by observations and theoretical market research reports