The other Biyani: Why it may be too early to write off the first family of Indian retail

NEW DELHI: At a time when India Inc has written off Future Group promoter Kishore Biyani and his family from the retail business due to a 15-year non-compete clause with Reliance Industries (RIL), his cousin and MD of Future Retail, Rakesh Biyani, could very well pave the way back for the Biyani family due to the omission of his name from the agreement, sources said.

Rakesh, who runs a chain of ethnic wear stores under the brand name of Ethnicity, is the Future Group’s go-to man for fashion retail and has held a variety of posts for retail bodies across the industry. “Knowing him, he has vast experience in the retail business and will not sit idle,” said a person close to the Future Group. “He has been grooming young members of the Biyani family, too, to enter the business.”

Rakesh and a spokesperson for Future Group could not be reached for comments.


While Kishore’s daughters — Ashni and Avni — have been running operations for Future Consumer and Foodhall, after the non-compete agreement between billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s RIL and Future Group, which has reportedly banned him and his immediate family members from entering the retail space for a period of 15 years, the group has been left with businesses that will manufacture and source FMCG and fashion products to supply to RIL’s retail businesses.

Under pressure due to piling debt and servicing issues, Kishore, known as India’s retail king, earlier this year sold the Future Group’s retail businesses, along with its warehousing and logistics businesses to RIL’s retail arm — Reliance Retail — for a combined value of around Rs 24,700 crore.

But the deal has hit a roadblock with Amazon approaching an arbitration body in Singapore, claiming that Future Group has breached contractual obligations by excluding the e-tailer from discussions. Amazon owns 49% in unlisted Future Group company Future Coupons, which owns 7% in Future Retail.