Kishore Biyani

Born: 9 August 1961, Mumbai
Known for: Founder of Future Group, Pantaloons and Big Bazaar

Early career

Kishore Biyani was born into a Marwari trading family in Mumbai. He started by selling fabric and ready-made trousers, and in 1987 set up the company that became Pantaloon Retail. The first Pantaloons department store opened in Kolkata in 1997.

Big Bazaar

In 2001 he launched Big Bazaar, a hypermarket chain designed around the way Indian families like to shop. It grew quickly across the country and made him one of the best known names in Indian retail. Future Group went on to run many store formats, including Central, Food Bazaar, Ezone, Home Town and Brand Factory, and also moved into financial services, insurance and logistics. He told his story in the book "It Happened in India", published in 2007.

Later years

The group borrowed heavily to grow. In 2012 Pantaloons was sold to the Aditya Birla Group. In 2020 Future Group agreed to sell its retail businesses to Reliance, but the sale was held up by a legal dispute and was called off in 2022. Most Big Bazaar stores were taken over by Reliance that year, and Future Retail went into insolvency proceedings.

Kishore Biyani is still remembered as the man who brought modern retail to the Indian middle class.