Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani on food, fashion and story telling

In a bid to disrupt the fragmented market for sona masoori rice in South India, Kishore Biyani, Group CEO of Future Group, wants to position his Golden Harvest brand of sona masoori as a single major brand across the region. He launched it in Hyderabad on Wednesday, January 24th, in the company of actor Rana Daggubati, director in Suresh productions, who was involved in creating a film on the brand. Upbeat on South and specially on Hyderabad, here is his quick take, from the launch event, on his business and its growth drivers:

On the main business focus: Our main business is going to be food and fashion.

On the revenue numbers: By next year 2018-19, we expect to touch Rs 40,000 crore (from around Rs 30,000 crore today) from our total retail business and in this Hyderabad alone will be Rs 4,000 crore across its formats. Currently, it is contributing to around Rs 2,500 crore. In the Rs 40,000 crore, Big Bazaar will be the largest contributor. Of the total, Golden Harvest  is already a Rs 2000 crore brand. For sona masoori rice, we expect it to contribute to around Rs 250 crore.

On some of the new investments:  In terms of new investments, we are looking at Nagpur for food business expansion with Rs 1000 crore investment (on the second food park after the one near Bangaluru) and at Telangana for our clothing business.

On story telling and selling brands: The film on the brand for which we collaborated with Suresh Productions is our first communication. We are story tellers of our own kind. We run Amar Chitra Katha. Story telling is important because brands are always built on emotions.

On role of technology: Technology is playing a key role for us. We are using a lot of social media to get customers to our stores. For instance, with our  Online to offline model (it is to help customers improve their offline shopping experience. This could be by either going online to get store discounts or to fix their check out time slots.)