An IIM A graduate, who wanted to join Ponds, ended up joining Citibank but quit the bank after 15 days and then worked for two years at Enfield before he decided to start on his own. His first venture, a financial services company called Viswapriya brought him money but he was not satisfied as he was not occupied with work the way he wanted. This obsession for being occupied led to Subhiksha, one of the largest retail chains in India. He became the poster boy of Indian Retail as another of the retail tycoon, Kishore Biyani of Big Baazaar, preferred to stay away from the all the clutter. 
Alas! Today if you see Subhiksha or Subramanian in newspaper chances are high that it will be preceded by words like closedown, non-payment or some of the recession common jargons like cash-strapped or accounts discrepancy. Eminent business personalities like Mr. Azim Premji of Wipro Group who used to praise this young man for his business skill (he also invested money in the retail chain) is accusing him of haste in business. ICICI Ventures and Subramanian are coming out in open against each other. What actually happened with Subhiksha? I am just putting down the thoughts which came to my mind.
1) Rapid expansion without consolidation and focus
For the last few years fund was not a problem for anyone and everyone who had a decent idea and a good business plan. If you have already proved the validity of your idea then capitalists come after you. Subhiksha couldn’t stop its expanding spree and give itself time for consolidation of its success because of the market mood of more and more expansions. In June 2000, Subhiksha was operating 50 stores in Chennai and in November 2007 had 1000 stores allover the country.
2) Correct Format & Wrong Strategy or Correct Strategy & Wrong Format
Subhiksha was neither a supermarket nor a normal retail shop. This special format required a special plan. R Subramanian couldn’t deliver it. I recall once when we were discussing what is happening to Subhiksha one of my friends made a statement which could give us an insight into the problem. He said there are three Subhiksha stores at equal distance in three directions from his home.
3) Dangerous intention to become a conglomerate as fast as possible
This needs no explanation. The Satyam Syndrome, tendency to ignore business basics to become a major conglomerate as soon as possible. If Satyam wanted to in the league of TCS, Infosys & Wipro it was Pantaloons in the case of Subhiksha.
4) Bad Market or Slowdown
One reason for which we cannot blame Subramanian or anyone else from Subhiksha.
5) Slow response to the crisis
As I have mentioned all his undertakings before Subhiksha including the stint at Enfield and venture in Finance were successful and he did not have struggle anytime of his career. His lack of experience in handling crisis did not help him at all when his Subhiksha was crumbling in face off the slowdown.
Those who want a full coverage of the issue refer the link below.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/quickieslist/4111381.cms
