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Sindhu J. Bhattacharya

Pantaloon Retail India's Mr Kishore Biyani

New Delhi , March 10

RETAIL pundit Mr Kishore Biyani is not satisfied with just controlling his present empire. After building a formidable retail empire from scratch (Pantaloon Retail India Ltd is expected to almost double turnover this fiscal to Rs 1,100 crore), he has now set his sights on new genres for further growth.

On the anvil is a Rs 250-crore venture capital fund that will lease out real estate to retailers. "We have formed an Asset Management Company, called Investment Advisory Company Ltd, which will manage the Rs 250-crore venture capital fund Kshitij. This venture is independent of Pantaloon," Mr Biyani told Business Line.

He said Kshitij will invest in real estate through Special Purpose Vehicles or by underwriting such projects and is being floated with the aim of encouraging investments in the retail sector. A retail industry analyst explained that the fund would probably work like this: property developers will be allowed to dip into the fund to build malls, which will then be rented out to retailers and this fund will be used for property being specifically developed for retail purposes.

Mr Biyani is also expanding his own retail empire. The group currently straddles the large-format retail concept through `Big Bazaar' and `Food Bazaar' brands, besides having ventured into seamless malls through `Central.' On the anvil are two concept stores in Bangalore, which will sell fashion accessories that require niche marketing. "Till now, things like watches, sunglasses and beauty products were being relegated to a corner of malls. These categories need dedicated sales people and a separate, niche marketing approach. We will be opening two-three such stores in Bangalore initially," he said. These concept stores will deal in watches and sunglasses; clothes for plus-sized men and women and beauty products.

On whether he has his hands full, with diversification and managing existing product lines, Mr Biyani said his vision is to control 20-25 per cent of all modern retail space in the country. "We control this right now but to maintain this grip on modern retail, we need to grow 100 per cent year on year. This is what I am working towards".

From 2.2 million sq. ft. of modern retail space under his belt at present, Mr Biyani is targeting 4 million sq. ft. by June 2006. At present, there are 15 Pantaloon stores, 17 Big Bazaars, 27 Food Bazaars and three Central Malls, with same-store growth between 20 per cent and 30 per cent year on year. And though he declined to comment on whether there are plans to also set up a full-fledged logistics management company, industry veterans say this could well be Mr Biyani's next venture.

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