Nobody imagined that a foreign PE giant would invest in a salwar kameez business: Meena Bindra of BIBA

The fashion brand has now forayed into new segments such as shoes and perfumes, for example, and is eyeing opportunities to expand its global footprint in the coming years. The 81-year-old first generation entrepreneur, in a very rare interview, talks about how she defied odds and chose to follow her passion and conviction to weather life’s storms in her journey of building a leading fashion brand. Edited excerpts: 

Starting up: ‘The goal was to make a profit’

What really propelled me towards business was that I was free. My children were grown up. I had a lot of time and I wanted to earn a little extra money. My husband was with the government and he had a fixed income. To see the boys through boarding school and for their education, extra money would have helped. So, I thought I’ll earn that money. But I wasn't particularly qualified. I was married for 18 years, just a graduate. I thought that since it would not be easy to get a job, I'll do something on my own from the house.

I had two-three exhibitions earlier. They did very well, so I thought I'll do something with clothes only. I thought if I get a little money, I'll buy fabric, get some suits tailored and try my luck. See how it goes. That was how it started. I knew that if you do business, you have to make profit. The goal was always to work hard and make profit. I was doing everything—I was selling, designing, conceptualising, going to the market, buying the fabric, handling the customers, going to the block printing factory, getting the printing done… Plus, managing a household and a husband and children.

Disrupting the market: ‘My suits were trendy and affordable’

Women who were used to wearing sarees only, suddenly felt liberated, young and trendy in salwar kameez. It just caught on, and even in the South, people accepted salwar kameez as an alternative to the saree.

My suits were very affordable. They were functional, they were well designed. Every strata of society could afford to buy them. And that's how this spread so fast. A working woman, a middle-class woman, an artist, everyone could afford to buy. Industrialists’ wives also flocked to come and buy these. My initial pricing was about Rs 190 for a beautifully well-made printed cotton suit. So that made it very popular.

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The retail story: ‘We never looked back’

When organised retail started, in the early 1990s, Shoppers Stop was the first store to open. They approached me on their own. When you are dealing with a large store, you automatically become more disciplined. They wanted to see the range six months earlier, fully ready, so they could order it. I was not used to working like that, but then I moulded myself. I got used to getting a full summer range ready or a winter range ready… Call the buyers, show it to them… By that time, I had a lot of buyers who used to come from all over India, place their orders. That's how slowly it started getting into a more organised way of functioning.

The major turning point came in 2004. That is when we realised that we must start building our own brand and start opening our own stores. Till then, we were wholesalers. We were supplying to Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Pantaloons, all the big multi-brand stores. It was a large business. So that was very transformational. We opened up the first two stores in Mumbai. And from there, we never looked back. Then we kept opening wherever we found an opportunity. In the second year, we opened 16 stores, then the number kept growing because more malls were coming up. We were also riding the wave.

Now, we have added footwear, bags, and perfumes. Our perfumes are doing well. And our latest is we have gone in for a ‘wedding edit’. So, from absolutely casual we have added different categories along the journey. We added mix and match, kidswear, semi-formals and formals. Now we are adding the wedding edit. So, it is heavy clothes for the bride and her friends for wedding functions. We just tried a small capsule collection in 35 stores. The results were very encouraging and we are going ahead with it.

Staying agile: ‘My aspiration is for BIBA to become a large global brand’

The market is becoming more challenging for sure because there is so much competition now. You have to stay ahead of it, keep improving and up your game. That is the only way to stay ahead. Unless you keep improving, keep thinking of new innovations, new ideas, staying ahead with the technology, staying ahead with the trends, with the colours, executing them fast enough… all these are changes which you need to do to stay in the game.

One of the main advantages of BIBA is that a woman from any age group can walk in and buy something… From a three-year old girl to an 80-year-old, and even an 85-year-old, will find something or the other to buy. Very few brands have been able to have that wide spectrum of choices.

We had no template to follow. In a lot of things, BIBA has been the first one. We didn't follow anyone. People followed us. Like, we started a shop-in-shop model, where you manage a smaller space within a larger store. Earlier, the shops used to just buy out, right? And it was their headache to sell it. Their teams would come three months in advance, order for the whole season and buy it.

But we felt we are not doing justice to it. Because sometimes the good designs would sell, but they would not replenish them because they had done their shopping. So, we suggested to them that why don’t you give us the space and we will manage it. Shoppers Stop was willing to try, though they wanted a very heavy maximum guarantee which didn't seem feasible, but we still felt let's try it. Initially, we were losing money, but then we caught up as we understood retail better. And then that became the model everyone followed. That became the norm. We did lot of new things. In the salwar kameez business, these things were unheard of. Like, the first time a foreign investor invested in an Indian brand.

We want to expand globally. Definitely. My aspiration is for BIBA to become a large global brand. One of the first Indian (global) brands, I'll be very happy. So, we are going slow. But we have to see where the market is for Indian clothes. And take things as they come. But definitely we want to grow.

Warburg Pincus: ‘One of the best partners’

We had an earlier investor in Kishore Biyani of the Future Group. He was always ready to take risks. And he is the one who started us off on movie merchandising because he made a movie called Na Tum Jaano Na Hum with Hrithik Roshan and Esha Deol. The movie unfortunately didn't do well, but the clothes we made of the movie did very well. And yeah, he was always there as a good advisor.

He was invested for six years and he wanted to leave, so when the news came into the market that Biyani is leaving and he wants to sell his shares, we got so many offers. Now, at that time, nobody thought that anybody will invest in a salwar kameez business, and that also a big brand like Warburg. That means you are of some value. So, the whole retail industry looked up, and their aspirations also grew, they also wanted people to invest. A lot of them got funding also. We were the first ones to start the ball rolling.

We've had the best of relations with Warburg Pincus. They've been one of the best partners, very supportive. We never found them overstepping… When we wanted advice, they gave us, they gave us their opinion. And sometimes they introduced us to people if we needed some introduction… They have been the best partners we could have wanted.

[The company was looking to list on the stock exchanges]. That plan is on hold. We're waiting and seeing. We are also trying out a lot of new things like the wedding edit. There are a lot of plans to go global, so after all that is done, maybe.

Watch the full conversation on Forbes India Pathbreakers on April 30.