Biyani eyes sixfold growth by 2021 as Future Group retunes

Future Group's Chief Executive Officer Kishore Biyani proposes to take his conglomerate's turnover to Rs 1 lakh crore by 2021 from Rs 18,000 crore now in what is his most ambitious restructuring exercise.

Biyani hopes to do this without taking on debt, which became a millstone in the past, forcing him to sell some of his crown jewels like Pantaloons. The group still has nearly Rs 6,000 crore of debt on its books, down from a peak of Rs 8,000 crore three years ago.

The rebirth, as Biyani describes his restructuring exercise, will see his ambitions fueled by internal accruals. "Unlike in the past when we were chasing mindless growth, what we want now is profitable growth," he said at a gala event on Friday where he unveiled his plans.

Other levers of growth will include ramping up his fast-moving consumer goods business from Rs 1,700 to Rs 20,000 crore, adding 4,000 small stores to his retail network of mainly hypermarkets, supermarkets and large-format specialised stores, and using data science to map new consumer trends.

The exercise will also see the group become a multi-channel retailer. Biyani is expected to launch his omni-channel retail strategy later this year.

"We have a plan - 50,000 online agents and our stores, assisted shopping, pay anywhere, pick up anywhere - the strategy will emerge slowly. Today, 60 per cent of the business in e-commerce comes from four cities. We want to tap 16,000-18,000 pin codes. This is a journey," he told Business Standard recently.

In the next fortnight, Biyani's mill in his food park in Tumkuru, Karnataka, is expected to churn out 100 varieties of flour. He is also setting up a plant in Sri Lanka in the next six months for manufacturing oats. The group recently launched So Fresh, a vegetable brand, and Go Bananas, a banana brand. On the anvil are branded apples and citrus fruits.

The Future Group is also likely to sign joint ventures in ice-creams, chocolates and biscuits in the coming months. Biyani will also acquire new food and non-food brands to perk up his FMCG play. The ball was set rolling recently with the acquisition of Grasim's personal care brands, Kara, Puretta, Handys and Prim. On the cards are more launches in shampoos, body wash and soaps.

NEW HORIZON

• The restructuring will be fuelled by internal accruals without taking on debt. Future group has nearly Rs 6,000 crore of debt on its books, which is down from a peak of Rs 8,000 crore three years ago
• The restructuring exercise will include ramping up the fast-moving consumer goods business from Rs 1,700 to Rs 20,000 crore, adding 4,000 small stores to the retail network and using data science to map new consumer trends