Sabse sasta aur achha (the cheapest and the best) was the theme song that made him India’s retail king. Future Group Founder & CEO Kishore Biyani is now playing the same tune for his education venture as well.
His institute, christened Future Innoversity, has launched one of the cheapest two-year Master of Business Administration (MBA) programmes in ‘retail management and entrepreneurship’ at Rs 2 lakh. Besides, a three-year Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) programme would cost the students only Rs 1.2 lakh.
In comparison, over a dozen B-schools in India, which offer an MBA in retail management in association with the Retail Association of India (RAI), have priced their courses between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 3 lakh, according to RAI.
In keeping with Biyani’s retail strategy of offering package deals, students joining the institute would also be assured of a job at various retail outlets like Big Bazaar, Pantaloons and Central, promoted by the Future group. BBA students would be placed with the companies’ retail chains at the supervisor level with an annual salary of Rs 1.5 lakh and MBA students as store managers with an annual salary of Rs 3.5 lakh.
The institute will absorb 300 students to begin with at its four centres in Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. It has plans to expand in other cities in the future. While the institute did not confirm its investments for the venture, industry experts said the Future group would have spent around Rs 20 crore on setting up the centres.
“While we are starting with MBA-BBA offerings, we intend to offer programmes that range from certificate to diploma courses and degrees, too. We want to make the programmes accessible to everyone including entrepreneurs. Our focus is on people with high social intelligence and a passion to achieve their career and entrepreneurial dreams,” said Muralidhar Rao, CEO of Future Human Development (FHDL). Future Innoversity is a venture of FHDL.
The institute will offer the degree programmes in retail and entrepreneurship in partnership with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). The curriculum comprises on-the-job training in Future Group stores and successful students will be inducted into Future Group companies.
Students who take the Common Admission Test (CAT), Management Aptitude Test (MAT) or any other state level recognised management entrance test scores will be eligible. They will have to participate in a group discussion, after which the institute will hold a personal interview. The institute said it did not consider it necessary to teach in English.
“While our conceptual inputs are at par with other B-schools, the three key differentiators about our programmes are: the course curriculum which utilises Future Group’s tacit and explicit knowledge of the retail sector industry; the high element of experiential learning that students undergo by being thoroughly exposed to various retail formats through intensive on the job training, projects and assignments; the focus on self-development and equipping students for continuous learning,” added Rao.
“Initially we are making investments in infrastructure, creating content and building a panel of faculty members drawn from industry and academia. Our idea is to build a strong content and delivery mechanism including technology-based delivery in select areas to improve consistency and bring down costs,” said Rao.
Over the next few years, the institute plans to enter other verticals like food, supply chain management and financial services.
The Future Group, which has existing tie-ups with other management institutes like the Welingkar Institute of Management and K J Somaiya in Mumbai for courses in retail management, said the partnerships would continue as demand for talent in the retail sector is huge.
