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• Kishore Biyani needs no introduction. He is the man behind the mushrooming retail supermarkets in India [Big Bazaar, Pantaloon, MegaMart and of course, Bangalore Central].

• “It Happened in India” is KB’s story of struggle, failures, restlessness, and sheer grit. If you are interested in building India centric products/services, there is no way you can afford to skip this book.

• If you recall my podcast with Ziva’s Ajay Sethi , Ajay laid out the differences between insights and observations and why startups need to have greater insights in the market they are operating.

• KB’ success is a classic example of how deep insights can create an impregnable differentiator among your competition which are purely led by observations and theoretical market research reports.

• And most of KB’s deep understanding is attributed to his ‘marwari/trading’ family upbringings and his interest in observing people and understanding their behavior.

• KB, famous for his unconventional style of running the business was ridiculed by media [his stores were referred as 'dirty stores'], was never called for any trade body meetings/investors conference.Maverick that he is, KB never gave a damn to all these , and went along shaping his own destiny.

• What impresses me the most is KB’s ability to defy the status quo, to challenge the regular mindset and most significantly,think BIG, very BIG.

• In this book, KB traverses thru’ his childhood days, how he became a big source of irritation to family members [used to question every damn thing in the world], talks about his college days [scarcity of girls and his "special" pen-friend:)] his first taste of leadership [by organizing a dandiya in his area], his first venture [selling stonewash fabric to small shops in Mumbai] to starting up Pantaloon and other stores.

• The book isn’t just a mere PR exercise; KB isn’t shy of talking about his failures, especially his foray into Bollywood movies [he produced Na tum Jano Na Hum and Chura Liya hai tumne].

• The book has quotes/anecdotes from KB’s family, co-workers, Investors, partners and others who helped KB in scripting the success story.And these anecdotes really makes the book an interesting read [I realized I am 'mall rat' after reading this book].

• Living up the Big Bazaar spirit of lowest price, the book is available at an affordable price of Rs. 99!!

• This book summary of It Happened in India by Kishore Biyani and Dipayan Baishya provides useful insights into an Indian entrepreneur.

• It Happened in India is an ideal read for Students, Young Professionals, Managers and Business Leaders, Budding Entrepreneurs and Young Indians.

• This book will rekindle an entrepreneurial spark. The book is humorous and has well explained ideas and thoughts and deep insight into the retail industry. The Highly motivating It Happened in India, advocates ‘Indianness’.

• It Happened in India traces the humble beginnings of the head of the Future Group, Kishore Biyani and is a compilation of his values, readings, contemplations, reactions and experiences in Retail. It also has the reactions of others closely associated in his profession and the company.

• The book summary presents reviews, a gist and a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of It Happened in India.

• After reading this book, a majority of readers would become Kishore Biyani Fans! or KB Fans for sure. Kishore Biyani is addressed as KB or KishoreJi within his organization & friends,

• This book is a winner from the word Go.

• True to his style & philosophy, Kishore Biyani has included all the people in the book who have made his happen. Not just by mentioning their names, but by interviewing more than hundred people, getting their thoughts in the form of ‘their stories & versions’, in each chapter of the book. Their narrative is appropriately placed within each chapter & their thoughts on that particular topic give a insight from the very people who were involved at that particular stage of the project.

• To me, personally the most important part in the book were his views on Trust & Relationships.These are from pages 192 to 197. I would request you to re-read these pages a couple of times & analyze as to how you or your organization correlates to this.These pages are under the Chapter: Business @ the Speed of Thought, topic starting from number VII [7], in Kishore Biyani’s book: It Happened in India.

• Here he emphasizes the important of a Win-Win situation between his organization, his business associates and his customers. He says, if you approach your business with this framework in mind, then you shall see benefit in all interactions.

• However, this is not as easy as it sounds. To get to that level, every person’s aspirations & dreams have to be understood & more importantly, addressed appropriately. Therefore, to build great relationships, sacrifices will have to be made.

• He goes on to say that “Most businessmen make the mistake of creating an environment wherein only then win. They see life only as a competitive arena & not a co-operative one. Relationships are built on principles, and not on the basis of power & position.”

• It Happened In India Book Description

• Born in a middle class trading family, Kishore Biyani started his career selling stonewash fabric to small shops in Mumbai. Years later, with the launch of Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Central and many more retail formats, he redefined the retailing business in India. Incidentally, Kishore Biyanis objective is to capture every rupee in the wallet of every Indian consumer, wherever they are - an investment banker living in a south Mumbai locality or a farmer in Sangli. As large business houses enter the retail space, Kishore Biyani is not just concentrating on retail but aiming to capture the entire Indian consumption space. From building shopping malls, developing consumer brands to selling insurance, he is getting into every business where a customer spends her money.

Book Details

• Title: It Happened In India• Publisher: Rupa • Author: Dipayan Baishya, Kishore Biyani• Edition: Paperback • ISBN: 8129111373• EAN: 9788129111371• No. of Pages: 280 • Deliverable Countries: This product ships

to India, Sri Lanka.

Quotes

•      “We have learned that if we provide people with an occasion and an excuse to shop, they will come.”

•      “It's not a matter of can we take on foreign retailers, but how big a gorilla you are.”

• “It's not so easy to get people in smaller towns to spend money, but they still come to the store, all dressed up with their families. It's an outing for them.”

•      “We are assuming India will grow, that we are going to have a lot of young people who will want to shop. But everything can change overnight.”

•      “There's a tearing hurry. We should be large enough before anybody comes in - whoever that may be. We learned from them that you can sell utensils and fashion together.”

• Its always inspiring to hear from the great men who do things their way. Nevertheless the biographies, especially the autobiographies are rated as boring (even though they are enriching) especially to the restless readers… But this one is different. The think tank, the father of Modern Retailing in India is set out to magnetize the readership of the young and the not-so-young with the same paraphrase that he has spread around.Kishore Biyani, with little help from Dipayan Baishya moves smoothly from his school-college days, his first entrepreneur endeavors to his stint in movie making and team building experience in his book, lets call it his autobiography (the book was intended to be the Pantaloons Story, but eventually it turned out to be his autobiography) and dishes out a motivating interest in his pursuits.

• The plot of It happened in India moves around retail strategies of a baniya and his conviction in himself while most of his ideas were rubbished by the then retailers and his family too.

• But the book has its share of weaknesses too. He has crammed the pages with testimonies from his business associates that initially provide for a refreshing change from the Gyan that he drops every now and then. The overdose of the testimony thwarted the flow and most of the times seemed to be made up.

• Nevertheless the author repatriates to the Indian way of retailing and provides a hand book for the emerging entrepreneurs and dreamers

• this book is really good for a young entrprennur.as they have given how they come into picture by after their hard endeavour to achieve their goal.it is good in point of view of layman. but the most absurd thing is that though it is autobiography still no. of author has written their view on behalf of kishore. which not sounds well to say autobiography.it is looking like the autobiography of PANTALOON itself not KISHORE BIYANI. the intresting thing in this book is “if u say that it is the brand ambassador of big bazar then it will not a laughablething” because the price of the book itself shows that”IS SE SASTA AUR ACHHA KAHIN NAHIN”.

• It Happened in India - The Story of Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Central, and the great Indian consumer

• It Happened in India - Kishore Biyani with Dipayan Baishya

Finally a business book from India! And no, it did not come from the Tata’s or Birla’s or Ambani’s. It has come from the reasonably unlikely quarters of Biyanis. Actually it is just one Biyani that is famous yet: Kishore Biyani, the first generation business man who has given retail in India the shape it is in. Sure we don’t know how are Pantaloons and Big Bazars and other ventures of Kishore Biyani going to shape up in the wake of Reliance Retail and foreign players. And neither did Kishore Biyani set up the first mall in the country. But he could still be heralded as the Father of Indian Retail simply because he has, as Malcolm Gladwell would say, “Tipped” the retail industry in India. He has taken malls from the domain of the elitist to the masses. And even though the business of Kishore Biyani is minuscule compared to Walmart or Tatas, he has achieved a tremendous amount, enough to warrant an autobiography of his business life.

And true to his style, this book by Kishore Biyani was meant for the masses. It was released in paperback, and priced at Rs. 99. Which is the least I have paid for a business book ever!

However, a good business man, and a thriving business operation, does not necessarily a good business book make! That is exactly what has happened here. The book oversimplifies the whole business a bit too much for the reader to grasp the complexities of the business environment, that too, in a sector which is otherwise dominated by the unorganized players. The best business books tend to chart the journey of everyone involved, capturing sufficient detail to convey the challenges of the business without over doing it which would bore the reader. It’s a fine line to tread. And this book is on the simpler side of the line. It misses that investigative journalistic touch and the business details. Perhaps if an independent author had written a book instead of Kishore Biyani himself, assisted by a writer, he might have done a better job.

Having said that, the book does give glimpses of the Indian Retail scenario. And even the brief insights are quite a delight to read. The growth of the business itself, and the thoughts of Kishore Biyani at every juncture and inflection point for his company are quite well narrated. The anecdotes and comments by people who have worked with Kishore Biyani… umm… well there are too many of them and most are generic praises that anyone could shower on anyone. But then, some of them highlight specific facets of Kishore Biyani’s business style and acumen, and they cover up for all the other write-ups which are plain flattery.

The book is not really written for the B-school audiences. It is meant to fire up that entrepreneurial spark in the people who are looking for a hero to emulate. And yes, Kishore Biyani is a source of bucketfuls of inspiration for such young guns. This book will be more than vindicated if it manages to produce even a single Kishore Biyani in this country of over 1 billion people.

Introduction

• True to his style & philosophy, Kishore Biyani has included all the people in the book who have made this happen. Not just by mentioning their names, but by interviewing more than hundred people, getting their thoughts in the form of ‘their stories & versions’, in each chapter of the book. Their narrative is appropriately placed within each chapter & their thoughts on that particular topic give a insight from the very people who were involved at that particular stage of the project.

For God, country & Big Bazaar

• In these chapters he explains about how he got idea to open something like a big bazaar which was very different from traditional retail scenario.

• He emphasis on making things simpler and easily understandable to both employees and customers.

• Giving a local touch to your store will add as an advantage and will increase sale.

• Emphasize on market research.

• He has emphasized on choosing a correct location as advantage for your store.

• Creating a very simple environment which makes customer feel comfortable to enter in the store.

• Hiring sales man according to your target audience.

• Don’t repeat your mistake and mistake once occurred should be solve as soon as possible.

• Working in a team, creating efficient workforce, giving them authority as well as responsibility, providing them benefits and incentives.

Bollywood calling

• Creating a Buzz.• Various phrase like “ Chane ke bhaw kaaju”, “

Rui er dame illish”, “ Stall le bhaw balcony”. Everybody understood and connected easily with these simple one liners.

• Launch of movies like “ Na tum jano na hum”, “ Chura liya hai tumne”.

• Believes movies are the best way to communicate with people.

Business @ speed of thought

• Here he emphasizes the important of a Win-Win situation between his organization, his business associates and his customers. He says, if you approach your business with this framework in mind, then you shall see benefit in all interactions.

• However, this is not as easy as it sounds. To get to that level, every person’s aspirations & dreams have to be understood & more importantly, addressed appropriately. Therefore, to build great relationships, sacrifices will have to be made.

• He goes on to say that “Most businessmen make the mistake of creating an environment wherein only then win. They see life only as a competitive arena & not a co-operative one. Relationships are built on principles, and not on the basis of power & position.”

Analysis of the book

• It is interesting and motivating for every Indian who wants start something very different and innovative.

• Have a very good connect as we can relate it with the past.

Criticism

• Repetition of various experience as people sharing views.

•