Future perfect

It’s hard to miss the happiness in Kishore Biyani’s voice. His group company, Future Capital Holdings (FCH), has just concluded its public issue, which has been oversubscribed 133 times. FCH, the financial services arm of the Future Group, was looking to raise Rs 490 crore through this public offering. Biyani, however, is clear that this is not his biggest moment to date. “I would say that the unprecedented rush at our retail outlets on January 26 last year and in 2006 were the high points,” he told BT.

Biyani is a name to reckon with in the Indian retail story and with brands like Big Bazaar and Pantaloon, he figured there was some value to the Future Group brand name. It was precisely for this reason that he decided to make full use of it. “The brand has some salience and I realised that the time was ripe to test it,” he says. Biyani thinks he has the best team for the financial services business, which the market seems to have taken note of. “It’s very encouraging that people are willing to bet on new players like us,” he adds.

Name: Kishore Biyani Age: 47 Designation: Group CEO Company: Future Group

Over time, the group’s core business—retail—has grown impressively to cover eight million square feet. “That should increase to around 30 million square feet by 2011,” says Biyani. The success of FCH’s public issue has been a shot in the arm for the man.

The objective now is clear—to get across to as many Indians as possible. “Today, we reach 8 per cent of India’s population. Eventually, I want to reach 30 per cent in some form or the other,” he says. The next few years promise to be action-packed and he admits as much. “You have merely seen the trailer. There is going to be a film and it will be a long one,” he promises.

Biyani has come a long way from the days of being in the business of stonewash fabrics. And he is not short of ambition. His leadership style, as he describes, is to go with the flow. “It is important to take things as they come,” he states.

—Krishna Gopalan