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Kishore Biyani has always been passionate about work. Even 10 years back when he was rolling out the first few stores of Big Bazaar, he never had much time for anything else. Bursting with ideas, he wanted to dabble in everything, whether it was films or trying out a new format. Now that he has bigger challenges like taking on multinationals who don't offer fair terms of trade, and competition from a new retail chain every other month, he's working overtime. The man himself claims he's home by eight every day, but says he can't spare the time for Lunch with BS. Instead, he invites me home to breakfast. Catching up with Biyani on a rainy Saturday morning at his apartment on Nepean Sea Road is fun, writes Shobhana Subramanian, because the man always has some new insights. | |||
Although he's had a harrowing trip back from Bangkok the day before with the flight delayed by more than five hours, Biyani is as energetic as ever. Weekends are spent in stores around town or sometimes even in other cities. In fact, it's doubtful if he does anything that's not related to work; it's almost as if taking a break is sin. Whether it's an IPL cricket match, where he's in the cheaper stands, or catching Dus ka Dum — the latest reality show on television — it's more to stay in touch with people and their tastes and needs rather than just enjoying himself. The idea, he says, is check out the crowds and find out who the spenders are.
At the same time, the 47-year-old first-generation entrepreneur is savouring his success. "At the match we couldn't find seats so someone offered us a place. It felt good to be known," says the retailer, who is on an eating binge right now. Most of the time he prefers his wife's cooking but once in a while he indulges in Japanese food, which he loves. We start off with hot samosas —Biyani claims the baked ones rather than the fried version — and some dosas. On the move always, he's spending a lot of his time in small-town India these days and is excited about the changes: aspirations are growing, people are less inhibited, more women are moving out of their homes and the dos and don'ts are changing. He notices change in the big cities, too. For instance many men now turn up in jeans at temples, something that was quite unthinkable in the past.
Biyani himself isn't religious but he believes today's youth is extremely religious probably because they're insecure in a more competitive world. At the same time, he also feels that Indians are learning to have fun. "They're celebrating more than ever before." It's no longer only about weddings or festivals, it's also about reality shows and cricket and this coming out into the open is a big change," he says, smiling because it's great for business.
But is business really booming? Well, he says, everyone wants more of everything these days so people are becoming more price-conscious than ever. Biyani believes he can survive the competition, saying deep pockets alone can't ensure success, it's customer-connect that matters. "We have managed to stay around despite not having too much capital," he asserts. Is it a good idea to have a finger in so many pies, I ask, wouldn't it be better to be focused? Biyani's convinced he's only in one business, that of meeting the needs of a consumer and he believes he can pull it off. He admits he's more ambitious today than he was 10 years back, but says he's been forced to trade his eternal optimism for some realism.
It's hard to believe Biyani can be anything but optimistic. So I ask him when he thinks organised retail will start making decent money. Retailers, he says, are all waiting for a tipping point. "Today about 10-15 per cent of the population shops regularly —that's about eight to nine times a year — at modern retail outlets. We're looking for this to go up to 25 per cent and we're hoping it'll happen very soon. Maybe it's happening even now. People are slowly losing their fear of entering a large store," he says. I'm convinced he hasn't changed one bit when he adds that the mood does seem to have become a little bit pessimistic over the last month or so. But he feels people will feel better if real estate prices come down and that could happen before the year is out.
For all his insights into real estate, Biyani doesn't yet have a house of his own because he feels the economics just doesn't make sense. However, his wife Sangeeta has finally convinced him to buy an apartment in Worli. She hasn't been able to get him to drive, though Biyani still hates being at the wheel, possibly because otherwise he wouldn't be able to answer his phones.
We help ourselves to some cheese toast and waffles with honey. Isn't it worrying, I ask, that India's prosperity has belonged to just a few and that there isn't any financial inclusion? Biyani agrees, but believes that financial inclusion is unlikely to happen in a capitalist society. He says he has little doubt that the rich will become richer and the disparity will keep on increasing because capitalism creates wealth at one level only. However, he feels that India's ‘happiness index' is perhaps higher than it has been in a long time and refuses to accept my contention that these days money seems to be the equivalent of happiness.
Possibly because he's become calmer himself over the years thanks to regular meditation, Biyani has apparently been ‘preaching' a lot to his numerous employees. That's when he's not up against companies, who he believes, are being discriminating by selling products at lower prices to select retailers.Talking about the spat with Cadbury, he says the company was simply not being fair and ‘treating us almost like panwalas'. He has decided not to renew the contract with Cadbury and feels he won't really lose out. And he's determined to stock his stores with more private labels, especially the KB Fair Price Shop chain, for which he's planning store labels across 300 stock-keeping units and across 1,500 outlets.
Thinking small has never been Biyani's style and he's not about to change. If anything, his plans are getting bigger. They may not all succeed but you have to admire his courage and enthusiasm. And his energy. It's been a great start to the weekend.
