It Happened in India: An Enjoyable Read on India’s First Retail Success
The title of this book caught my attention and made me look into it. I didn’t know much about Kishore Biyani until then — maybe because I left India in 2006 and have been a bit disconnected. Being an entrepreneur and an Indian, I found Kishore’s story very inspiring, hence I ordered the book on Flipkart when I was in India in 2017.
The book is authored by Kishore Biyani who founded Future Group — India’s first retail success. He comes from a humble background, born and brought up in a middle-class baniya family in Mumbai, and originated from my home state, Rajasthan :)
Kishore built up the empire from scratch to a net income of over $3B and over 40 brands for Indian consumers!
About the book
It Happened in India is a 268-page book authored by Kishore with the help of Dipayan Baishya, who is a business writer and has been associated with the Economic Times and Business Today. The book is divided into 10 chapters, and you can buy it on Flipkart for ₹754 (~US$12).
My thoughts on It Happened in India
This book was an absolutely lovely read. Kishore didn’t grow Future Group like a typical Silicon Valley startup, but the way he bootstrapped and cracked Indian consumer behaviour was impressive.
Kishore talks about his entrepreneurial journey and gives specific how-tos about his growth and execution strategy. I come from a B2B business background, and Future Group is all about B2C, so I learned a lot, especially in the Indian consumer context.
What I love about this success story is that India is an extremely diverse country and Kishore understood that consumer behaviour on a regional level and tailored his offering. He spent time on the ground just to understand consumers. His belief in getting first-hand experience was impressive.
Who is this book for?
It Happened in India has two key themes: entrepreneurship and Indian consumer business.
If you are an entrepreneur and executive who is targeting Indian consumers, you MUST read this book. It will give you an understanding of the complexity of Indian consumer behaviour and how you can tackle that. You will learn how Future Group succeeded in that environment, and I am sure you will get a decent number of ideas to apply in your business.
I also recommend this book to every entrepreneur, whether they are in a B2B or B2C play. Kishore talks about some fundamental business principles and walks through many business situations that we have to face as entrepreneurs. It is always valuable to get tips from highly successful entrepreneurs like Kishore.