Future Group’s Kishore Biyani – known for not mincing his words while speaking about e-commerce in India – sees a large majority of Indian startups as “sexy”, but having no sense.
“Ninety per cent of startups I have seen had no meaning at all. They are nonsense,” Biyani said at The Economist India Summit, held in New Delhi recently.
Insisting that the startups must work on a bigger canvas, he said at the current state these new ventures would be too small to create the number of jobs which India requires.
“Start up people should now think big, they should work on bigger canvas. All are very bright and talented people, so the canvas has to be larger,” Biyani said.
“Let us take Ola. The revenues would not be more than Rs 3,500 crore. They are not creating any new economy. They just meet people’s need to commute from point A to point B,” he added.
Read: Future Group denies merger talks with Aditya Birla Retail
Biyani has always been vocal against the business models and legalities of foreign-funded e-commerce companies.
In an earlier interview with Indiaretailing Bureau, Biyani even questioned the business model of these e-commerce companies. “Whether the business is physical or digital, the principle remains the same. We are all ultimately in the business of consumption and there is no point running it without profitability and viability. Our young enterprenuers are thinking very small, and this needs to be changed. What is the point of having a venture like this if you cannot build value or scale?,” he said then.
Read: Kishore Biyani predicts end of big online discounts
Biyani’s Future Group has, earlier this year, bought online furniture seller FabFurnish.com, his first acquisition of an Internet store. But Biyani is unsure how much e-commerce will contribute to his business.
Just last month, he indicated that the company is looking for a better business model for its Omnichannel venture, Big Bazaar Direct, as the existing model was not viable. As per various reports, he’s planning to shut down the Big Bazaar Direct website.
“I attempted e-commerce four times in my life. We started FutureBazaar way before Flipkart. We lost Rs 300-350 cr in business. Then, we created Big Bazaar Direct and we are officially closing it in next one week. We lost there as well,” Kishore Biyani was quoted by Business Standard as saying.
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