Can you tell us a little about the vision and beliefs of Pantaloon?
We believe in three main things. Indian-ness is first. Everything has to be done in the Indian way so understanding India is of prime importance. The fact that India is diverse is not conceptual but very real for us. Understanding that is the primary focus. Most companies use a one-model-fits-all idea. But in reality West Delhi, North Delhi and Mulund are completely different markets with different attitudes, cultures, habits and festivals. Therefore applying one strategy to all of these areas doesn’t work. You have to understand that if you don’t believe in the diversity of India it’s going to be difficult for us at Pantaloon. Retail is about vicinity and merchandise must reflect that. As another example, in Hyderabad, cool and bright colors work well. However in Delhi a color like pink is very jarring and will not give you good results. Many companies still believe that consistency is the model for success but we differ.
Secondly, India is changing very fast and by 2025, the per capita income will increase to $ 1200. Adding another $ 200-300 and with incomes going higher people will start consuming more. In 20 years 60 pc of India’s population will be below 23 years of age, which means that two thirds of the populace would not have any concept of what a ration shop was and would only know of shopping malls. The retail business needs to evolve very fast to keep up with that.
Thirdly, since we look for Indian-ness, tracking the Indian mind at any point of time is most important. For example in the movie Salaam Namaste, the girl getting pregnant before getting married is accepted whereas Neal and Nikki’s overly liberal tone bombs at the box office. According to us there are two parallel Indias functioning right now. India-1 is aspirational while India-2 is non-aspirational. People born before 1980 were brought up with a socialistic mindset so they believe in saving money. However, those born after 1980 were young or adolescents when globalization came and thus don’t feel guilty in spending money.
Therefore in Gurgaon, which comprises the high-income group of people born before 1980, a Big Bazaar should not do well. The insight here is that the socialistic mindset requires deals and when you give that, Big Bazaar works in Gurgaon. Such beliefs and thinking form the core of Pantaloon and such concepts are not taught in B-schools at all.
What kind of jobs are available for MBAs at Pantaloon and how many MBAs has Pantaloon hired over the years?
We hired 72 MBAs in 2004, 122 in 2005 and 246 in 2006. We are looking to hire about 250 students for the coming placement season. The MBAs would be hired for operations and merchandising profiles.
After recruitment, the induction period is of 21 days where we take you through the company vision and mission. Basically, we tell them about how this company thinks and lay out its vision for operations and merchandise. A short training in design management completely inducts the recruit culturally into the company. After the induction program individuals are given projects for 4 to 5 months along with project guides. After a year, you are placed as Store Managers where you actually get to handle a mini business. As one progresses the authority and responsibility also increases.
What growth opportunities are present for an MBA at Pantaloon?
After one year, an individual is made an in-charge of a store and after approximately 1.5 years one is made the Manager of a large store. After 5 years, you get to manage an entire cluster of stores. After 7-8 years, one is assigned a whole geography. As far as strategy positions are concerned, strategy in retail changes every single day. Every single day one needs to know what is happening. One needs to understand their vicinity well and respond to it accordingly.
What pay packages does Pantaloon offer to new MBA recruits?
Initially, Rs 2.5 lakhs plus in Rs 50,000 performance related incentives. The growth in salary ranges from Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000 annually.
How is the work environment and what are the HR policies like at Pantaloon?
The policies are not the same for the entire country and why should they be the same? For example, in the North money is more important, in the South recognition is more important, in the East intellectual recognition is regarded highest and in West India commitment is very important. Our policies are tailor-made to these cultural differences.
What is your attrition rate and what are you doing to control it?
The attrition rate currently is 8.36 percent but some major Indian and international players entering into retail, it will go up. As for the MBAs in our company, there would be poaching when more players come in and if it happens, it happens. There is zero loyalty in retail. The most important thing is creating a soul in the store.
What is the vision behind Pantaloon’s venturing into B-schools to start Retail Management Courses?
We started these courses because there were no retail specialization courses in India. In the MBA degrees offered in most Indian B-schools, only some aspects of the retail business are addressed. However, we believe that for the retail industry we need holistic thinkers who think with their left as well as right brains. B-schools talk a lot about analysis and case studies but these are not the only important things. One needs to understand emotions and aesthetics too. For example men love and want gadgets and they want them now. Delivering a gadget order at a later date does not work for a store. Or do you know which kind of men like to smoke cigars most? You’ll be surprised but the answer is men who used to suck their thumbs as kids and developed a smoking habit usually prefer cigars. To teach all this we introduced the Pantaloon supported Retail Management diplomas in B-schools like Welingkar Institute of Management, KJ Somaiya Institute of Management and Research, both in Mumbai, then Chennai Business School and Kolkata’s Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management also.
We also introduced the Design Management course with Welingkar that tells you about the left and right brains. One needs to be holistically comfortable while using the left and right brain and for understanding emotions and celebrations and applying them in management.
How do MBAs interested in working for you apply to Pantaloon?
For people with experience, the best way is to apply directly as long as they have the most important prerequisites, that is, a cultural fit and the right attitude. For summer interns, we have short-term projects aplenty with definitive end dates and objectives.
Besides that, we are already taking in MBAs from schools running the Retail Management courses and other smaller B-schools.
What are Pantaloon’s growth plans like?
This year Pantaloons closed with revenues of Rs 2,200 crores last year and projected revenues for the next year are Rs 4,700 crores. Projected revenues for 2010 is Rs 30,000 crores. We’re currently in 36 to 40 cities and by 2010 we aim to be in 100 to 200 cities across India.
Mr Sanjay Jog is HR Head at Pantaloon Retail India Limited and has extensive previous industry experience with Taj Group, ANZ Grindlays, DHL Worldwide Express, Bharti Telecom and RPG Retail.