Chairman of the Future Group looks for foreign partner

The Kishore Biyani Chairman of the Future Group,controlled and the country’s largest retail chain, has marked Ezone as its first target for a partnership with a foreign player.This might be the group’s first tie-up with a foreign company after a committee of secretaries recently approved a proposal to increase the limit of foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail to 51 per cent.

A Future Group spokesperson said, Talks were at an initial stage and the company was yet to decide on what percentage it would offload.

He added, “Ezone will be the first among Future Group’s formats to receive an influx of money. While talks are on a preliminary stage and nothing has been worked out yet, the first tie-up would definitely happen in this vertical.”

Ezone, which has more than 45 stores across India, is the consumer durable and infotech chain of the Rs 12,000-crore Future Group. It was separated from the flagship Pantaloons and made into a separate company earlier this year.

Besides Ezone, Future Group operates other retail formats like Pantaloons, Big Bazaar and Brand Factory.

The spokesperson said, “There has been a problem of shrinking margins. Mr Biyani has earlier said that Future Group is FDI-ready. Ezone has been separated and business verticals reorganised in anticipation of the funds the new norms will allow.”

In allowing FDI into multi-brand retail, the committee of secretaries has allowed the entry of multinational retailers like Walmart, Carrefour and Tesco into the country. Most of these companies have been waiting for a while to enter the organised retail market in India, currently valued at nearly $22 billion.

The spokesperson said, “We are looking at an increasingly digitalised Ezone. This would mean a format with lesser number of stock keeping units, which allows us better inventory management in a more cost-efficient manner.”