Future Grp eyes Rs 30k cr transactions on its e-wallet nxt yr

Future Group eyes Rs 30,000 crore worth transactions on its e-wallet next year, Future Group chief executive Kishore Biyani said Thursday.

Future Pay is an app-based wallet introduced for shopping across Future Group stores.

Biyani further said the company is getting into another round of technology innovations and is building digital financial services business based only on technology/digital.

"In the last few years we have built a product called Future Pay. It will do a business of Rs 30,000 crore next year. It is running at a run rate of Rs 10,000 crore. We have 40 lakh active users every month and close to 80-85 lakh members on Future Pay," he said at the Ascent Conclave.

On the retail front, Biyani said the company is opening small store formats targeting the 50,000 population towns.

"If you look at Future Group we operate on three levels. One is Big Bazaar which is our largest store and we are operating in the population range of one-lakh plus. We are within 5 km of consumers in 13,000 pincodes. We are now working on opening small stores in every part of India, which is up to a population of 50,000. We are planning to open 10,000 stores over the period of next 7-8 years, he said.

"We are opening three stores a day. We think we will be in 2 km distance of every customer and consumer in India," he added.

The retailer further said they plan to open Aadhaar Retail in eight states, having already commenced in three states.

"We have started in 3 states Punjab, Gujarat and Rajasthan, wherein we are opening our franchise stores which is serviced by our wholesale centres in population of less than 50,000. Most of the stores we have opened is in population of 10,000. We believe there is a market every where in this country, he said.

Future group operates stores like Big Bazaar, fbb (fashion at big bazaar), Ezone, HyperCity, Central, Easyday, Heritage, Nilgiris and Brand Factory.