Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies is organising its annual business convention Strategym 2006.
Future Retail on Saturday said it has missed the due date for payment of Rs 3,494.56 crore to banks and lenders as it could not sell assets due to its ongoing litigation with amazon, impacting its monetisation plans. Future Retail had last year entered into a one-time restructuring (OTR) scheme for COVID-19 hit companies with a consortium of banks and lenders and was to discharge "an aggregate amount of Rs 3,494.56 crore" on or before December 31, 2021. Kishore Biyani-led Future group firm would be "co-operating for completing the monetisation of the specified business within next 30 days" as per directions of the banks to resolve the current situation, said a regulatory filing by Future Retail.
Raghu Pillai, former director and CEO (operations, strategy and business development) of Reliance Retail, today took over as the chief executive of Kishore Biyani's Future Value Retail. An industry veteran, Pillai talks about his new role with Business Standard.
In an email interview, the Mumbai-based Devdutt Pattanaik spoke to redidff.com about his latest book on the Mahabharata and about what lessons the epic holds for today's times
Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group company Pantaloon Retail is hiving off four of its business divisions, including Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar, into independent subsidiaries, keeping the option open for listing them in future. The Board of Pantaloon Retail on Tuesday approved setting up of wholly-owned subsidiary companies for Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Speciality Retail Business Activities and Property and Mall Management Division.
When Kishore Biyani- led Future Group opened the 200,000 square feet Home Town store in Mumbai's Vikhroli early last year, it became a symbol of the group's giant-sized ambitions in home solutions.
Ventures in areas such as insurance, financial services and logistics valued at Rs 4,500-5,000 crore ; company in talks with PE giants KKR and JP Morgan.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Thursday gave crisis-hit Future Retail Ltd (FRL) time till May 12 to submit its reply to the insolvency petition filed against the company by Bank of India. Last week, Bank of India had moved the tribunal seeking to initiate insolvency resolution proceedings against FRL, which has defaulted on loan repayments. The NCLT hearing on Thursday also came against the backdrop of Reliance calling off its proposed Rs 24,713 crore-deal with Future Group after secured creditors voted against it.
The Raheja-owned Shoppers Stop, which was so far an up market department chain, is becoming a full service retailer soon. It is increasing its stake in the promoter group's hypermarket chain Hypercity from 19 per cent to 51 per cent.
The concern is that the scheme may not take off, like its precursor in the previous five-year plan.
Shares of Future Group firms on Monday faced heavy drubbing, tanking up to 20 per cent, after Reliance Industries said its Rs 24,713-crore deal to acquire Future Group's assets cannot be implemented after secured creditors of the Kishore Biyani-led companies voted against the proposal. The stock of Future Consumer plummeted 19.91 per cent, Future Supply Chain Solutions slipped 19.96 per cent, Future Lifestyle Fashions 19.89 per cent, Future Enterprises tumbled 9.87 per cent and Future Retail fell 4.96 per cent on the BSE. Shares of Reliance Industries also dipped 1.75 per cent.
The disclosure comes within days after Kishore Biyani-owned Pantaloon Retail said that same store sales in December dropped for the first time in four years. Analysts were more surprised at the drop in value retailing, which indicated that value retailers were not benefiting from downtrading.
Starbucks Coffee International, the world's biggest coffee chain is finally entering India.
Kishore Biyani's Future Group is getting its act together on supplying its private labels outside the group's 1,000-odd outlets, even as Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail has already marched ahead by starting to sell some of its private brands to kiranawalas (independent stores).
Consumer durables major Videocon and Kishore Biyani's Future group have entered into an agreement to source consumer durables.
At the moment Concor, a public sector company controlled by the railways, has a monopoly in running container trains across the country. It offers ferrying rates to carry containers that are one-third of that on roads.
The head of Pantaloon, India 's leading retailer, has warned that high property prices in big Indian cities are threatening the country's burgeoning retail industry and adding to the pressures brought on by soaring construction and labour costs
VMIL officials declined to comment on the development. According to sources close to the development, VMIL will sell stake to raise money for expanding Hungama, the content and mobile services arm. The Mumbai-based company has already held two to three rounds of meetings with these private equity investors. The company's valuation has been pegged at Rs 800 crore (Rs 8 billion). The funds raised would be used for Hungama's expansion.
The JV will be set up in about 8-10 cities, including Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Bangalore, Indore, Jaipur, Pune, Delhi and Mumbai. The investment is expected to provide significant synergies to the Future Group, which has a large advertisement budget and aligns well with the group's businesses such as Future Media, which has interests in media and advertising.
Portal to be launched in three months, says Future Group's Kishore Biyani
The company obtained its shareholders' approval for its plans in the extraordinary general meeting held on Tuesday. This is the second time the Kishore Biyani-led Pantaloon is using the QIP route to raise money. The first time was three years ago, when the company raised Rs 260 crore (Rs 2.6 billion) by selling shares to institutions in 2006.
Future Capital Holdings has decided to venture into the hedge fund business in the next three months.
Consider this: Kishore Biyani's Future Group, which owns the country's largest retailer Pantaloon, is converting the standalone stores of book and music chain Depot into shop-in-shops within Big Bazaar. While the number of Depot shop-in-shops has risen to 123, that of standalone stores has come down to nine. Same with UK-based footwear brand Lee Cooper.
R C Agarwal, promoter of beleaguered Vishal Retail, on Wednesday came out in support of the offer from Texas Pacific Group (TPG) in preference to that from Kishore Biyani's Future Group.
Vaidyanathan, former managing director and CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, as a sign-on bonus got 20 lakh (2 million) warrants worth Rs 47.40 crore (Rs 474 million), DNA said.
Vaidyanathan's compensation is 'a performance-linked booty'.
Payback India has 10 million members now.
Indian retailers put cash & carry on backburner
According to sources in the Future Group, it plans to tie up with international retailers in different segments. "We can certainly look at bringing in foreign capital to our subsidiaries now," said a group official, who did not wish to be quoted. Under the new guidelines, downstream investments by an Indian company that has foreign investment but is owned and controlled by Indians will not be considered as FDI.
Kishore Biyani, founder and CEO of the Future Group, has emerged as the largest and perhaps the most successful retailer in India. Here he looks back at successes, failures and other defining moments in his entrepreneurial life.
Battling back spasms and forgettable batting form, he led fellow warriors to do a miracle in the middle.
The venture, on the lines of Kishore Biyani's Future Ventures India, will focus its investments in the information technology sector, said a source familiar with the development.
Yesterday, we carried the tale of a reader's unpleasant shopping experience and invited you to write in with yours. Here is the first set of responses we've received!
India's retail giants, including Kishore Biyani's Future Group, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail and Sunil Mittal-promoted Bharti group, have started negotiations with the railways for leasing land for retail development.
L&T is planning a foray in PE fund in the real estate market with a Rs 4500 crore fund.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Tuesday allowed Kishore Biyani-led Future Group firms to hold meetings of its shareholders and creditors to seek approval for the sale of assets to Reliance Retail Ltd. A Mumbai-based two-member NCLT bench comprising Suchitra Kanuparthi and Chandra Bhan Singh dismissed the application filed by e-commerce major Amazon opposing the scheme of merger of the Future group companies, sources close to the development said. Confirming the development, a Future group firm through a regulatory filing informed that NCLT has passed an order, allowing the company to hold meetings of its shareholders and creditors to seek approval for the scheme.
Future Capital Holding disclosed its plans to enter asset management and retail broking. A credit card tie up with ICICI bank is also in the pipeline.
Future Retail Ltd (FRL) on Monday said the Delhi high court has ruled that statutory authorities cannot be restrained from acting in accordance with law and stayed a previous order on status quo of its Rs 24,713 crore deal with Reliance. Updating stock exchanges about the court ruling, FRL said a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh has stayed the operation and effect of order passed by single Judge J R Midha on February 2. "...inter alia, for the prima facie reason that the company is not a party to the Shareholders Agreement dated August 22, 2019 executed between Amazon, Future Coupons Private Limited and the Promoters of FRL, under which arbitration was initiated by Amazon in Singapore," FRL said.
'The idea of modern retail is to drive consumption and grow the economy. If international retailers can do that and add new categories, why not?' asks Kishore Bayani of the Future Group.