Often cited as the father of India’s organized retail, thefounder of Future Group sold his company to Reliance in an all-cash deal inAugust.
Five listed entities of the Future Group were folded intoFuture Enterprises Limited (FEL). Some of these companies are Future Retail,Future Lifestyle, and Future Consumer. The FEL then will sell the logistics, warehouse,wholesale, and retail businesses and the new owners will take on the relateddebt and current liabilities.
The deal seals his exit from the retail segment which hebuilt over the last three decades.
Having completed the deal, he made no public observationsuntil now.
The straight-shooter businessman informed the public as towhy he made the decision.
Rs 7,000 crore was the amount that Kishore Biyani suffered inrevenue loss in four months due to the pandemic COVID-19 induced lockdownmeasures.
He also pointed that he did many acquisitions which were notable to pan out as expected because the pandemic hit.
“There was no way we could have survived. The problem isthat rent and interest don’t stop. And our growth, investment and ouracquisitions were done not through equity as much as we should have done. Soeverything came together during Covid”.
Further, he went ahead and warned the worst is yet to comefor the retail industry as the mobility restrictions have transformed thecustomer attitudes towards shopping. He claimed that now customers do not gofar from their residences to shop, and destination shopping places may havedifficulty attracting customers.
He also observed that many categories of products which sawhuge spending by customers will now face dwindling sales as the priorities ofthe customers get updated due to the pandemic.