Subramanian is not only a retailer of a different kind but he is a human being of a different kind. Why am I saying this? Just think, in the mid eighties, who would prefer to stay back in India rather than going to US for higher studies, after obtaining an engineering degree from IIT-Madras.Well, Subramanian did.

Who will quit the high earning job of investment banker in Citi Corp and join Enfield, a sick company of that time.Well, Subramanian did.

Who will choose to enter the disorganized Indian retail market, when there is an option to enter the booming software market?Well, Subramanian did it again.

He was one of the very few students who stayed back in India after engineering. He wanted to do something here in India as he feels that India is filled with opportunities and if you don’t succeed than it is you who should be blamed and not the country. He joined IIM- Ahmedabad to pursue MBA course. MBA seemed to be a logical choice as in engineering also he took economics and accounting as his electives and he was the topper in these subjects.

He did his summer internship at Ponds and he was also offered a job also with them. But he was now interested in the investment banking department of Citi Corp. He was one of the three persons recruited by Citi group from IIM-A. This could have been a dream job for anyone else and any other person would have made a bright career out of it. But Subramanian is just not any other person. He was habitual of doing different things as compared to ordinary people. He felt that he is doing more and more of the same work and earning more and more of money. This is not what he wanted from his life.

While he was doing his MBA, he got an offer from Mr. Vishwanathan of Enfield. Subramanian contacted Vishwanathan, and asked whether his offer is still there. After getting an affirmative reply, Subramanian left Citi Corp after working for just 3-4 weeks and joined Enfield. He worked in this manufacturing unit for 2 years from 1989 to 1991.

He started his first company in 1991 which was financed by Mr. Vishwanathan and it was named as ‘Viswapriya’. In Viswapriya, they used to buy debentures from a number of people who had them in very small numbers and consolidated them as 1 lakh or 2 lakh debentures and invested them in mutual funds. Investors get a monthly income and every time investors get money, Viswapriya became popular. Subramanian says that Viswapriya was the pioneer of this business and big guys entered after them.

Nowadays, asset securitization is a very popular term, but who started it in India. Ask this question to Subramanian and the answer is Viswapriya. After they did it, SBI and ICICI Ltd. entered this field.

(Asset securitisation is a process of converting illiquid assets to liquid assets by converting longer duration cash flows into shorter ones. The person, who holds the assets, sells it to an intermediary who in turns breaks the asset into marketable securities).

But the big breakthrough came in 1994 when they started IPO financing and they called it Prime Financing. This process involved giving loans to people who applied for shares, that too without any collateral or guarantee.

In 1997, they decided to enter the Indian retail market after rejecting the option of entering software market. The logic was simple as they didn’t wanted to be late entrants as Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Satyam were established players at that time. They were one of the early entrants in retail market. A comprehensive research was conducted which took 3 months and then it was decided that they will set up 10 stores of 1000 sq. ft. rather than opening one big store of 10000 sq. ft. But why should customers come to the store and the answer they found was ‘price’. The name Subhiksha was chosen as it means prosperity and it reflects Indian feelings.

In March 1997, first Subhiksha store was set up in Chennai. Today, the chain has over 1000 stores in 90 cities, with a turnover of around Rs.2300 crores.

The biggest problem, Subramanian faced was opposition from the Chemist Association and Drug companies as they were against the selling of medicines in Subhiksha at low prices. The matter was taken to court and the decision came in Subhiksha’s favour.

Subramanian’s vision for Subhiksha is to emerge as the largest retailer in the ‘Food Grocery Pharmacy’ segment in all the geographical regions they operate from. Subramanian wants to go International but not before opening 2500 or 3000 stores in India.