30 January 2023, Mumbai
Kishore Biyani has stepped down as chairman and director of Future Retail.
The company is currently facing insolvency proceedings. Biyani was associated with Future Retail since 2007. Biyani, who was also known as a retail tsar in India, is known as the pioneer of modern retail in India, who took the modern brick and mortar format among the masses.
Future Retail operated multiple retail formats in both the hypermarket supermarket and home segments under brands such as Big Bazaar, Easyday, Foodhall. At its peak, Future Retail was operating over 1,500 outlets in nearly 430 cities. Future Retail was dragged into insolvency proceedings by its lender Bank of India after it defaulted on loans. The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal had in July 2022 directed to initiate insolvency against the company.
It was part of the 19 Future group companies operating in the retail, wholesale, logistic and warehousing segments, which were supposed to be transferred to Reliance Retail as part of a deal announced in August 2020. However, lenders rejected the takeover of the 19 Future group companies, including Future Retail, by Reliance amid a legal challenge by Amazon. Last year in August, stock market regulator Sebi ordered a forensic audit of the accounts of Future Retail for the financial years 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22.
