Founded in 1987, as a garment manufacturing company, Pantaloon entered modern retail in 1997 with the opening of a chain of department stores, Pantaloons. In 2001, Biyani evolved a pan-Indian, class-less model — Big Bazaar, a hypermarket chain, leading to the democratisation of shopping in India. With Food Bazaar, a supermarket chain, he blended the look, touch and feel of Indian bazaars with western hygiene and it has now evolved into the favoured destination for Indian homemakers.

The Future Group operates through six verticals: Future Retail (encompassing all lines of retail business), Future Capital (financial products and services), Future Brands (all brands owned or managed by group companies), Future Space (management of retail real estate), Future Logistics (management of supply chain and distribution) and Future Media (development and management of retail media spaces).

The group's flagship enterprise, Pantaloon Retail, is India's leading retail company with presence in food, fashion and footwear, home solutions and consumer electronics, books and music, health, wellness and beauty, general merchandise, communication products, e-tailing and leisure, and entertainment.

The company owns and manages multiple retail formats catering to a wide cross-section of the Indian society and its width and depth of merchandise helps it capture almost the entire consumption basket of the Indian consumer. Headquartered in Mumbai, the company operates through 3.5-million square feet of retail space, has over 100 stores across 25 cities in India and employs over 12,000 people.

The company has also launched Central, a first of its kind, seamless mall located in the heart of major Indian cities. Some of it's other formats include, Collection I (home improvement products), E-Zone (consumer electronics), Depot (books, music, gifts and stationaries), aLL (fashion apparel for plus-size individuals) and Blue Sky (fashion accessories).

Some of the group's subsidiaries include Home Solutions Retail India Ltd, Future Bazaar India Ltd and ConvergeM Retail India Ltd, which leads the group's foray into home improvement, e-tailing and communication products, respectively. Other group companies include, Pantaloon Industries Ltd, Galaxy Entertainment and Indus League Clothing. It has also entered joint venture agreements with a number of companies including ETAM group, Gini & Jony, Liberty Shoes and Planet Sports, a company that owns the franchisee of international brands like Marks & Spencer, Debenhams, Guess and The Body Shop in India.

Future Capital Holdings, the group's financial arm, recently raised $1.1 billion in private equity funds for investment in retail real estate and consumer-related industries. Apart from asset managment, it also plans to get into insurance, consumer credit and offer other financial products and services.