Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Shivanand Mankekar on Pantaloon Retail

Shivanand Mankekar who holds about 4% stake in PRIL.

"We didn't do any of the typical things expected from finance professors,i.e.analyse the balance sheet or meet the management. The simple reason for this was that the Big Bazaar outlet spoke much more,it screamed out that there was a guy who really understood retailing the Indian way. "

"On returning back to Bombay, when we met KB, in our first meeting itself we told him that we had at least a thirteen-year investment horizon on Pantaloon,by which we believed that Pantaloon would have Rs.1 lakh crore market cap. KB laughed it off since on that day Pantaloon's market cap was barely Rs.50 crore! But today,four years hence,Kishore says anything is possible. We always tell him that we believed more in him than he did in himself. "

Source: "It Happened in India" by Kishore Biyani published by Rupa & Co.

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