Well-known retail professional Ved Prakash Arya passed away on Thursday in a bizarre accident in Mumbai. It is believed a tree fell on him while he was taking his morning walk. He is survived by his wife and two children.
Condoling his death, Kishore Biyani, Founder and Group CEO of Future Group, said in a statement: "Ved had a pioneering spirit and was always full of energy that was evident right through his career. He was among the youngest leader who shaped the retail industry in India. He always believed in purusing growth, whether in business, knowledge or in broader context of life. The Future Group benefited immensely from his entrepreneural zeal and leadership during our formative years. It was a shock and disbelief when we got to know about the incident in the morning. Today Indian business has lost one of its brightest men."
The 41-year-old Arya was working as the managing director and CEO of Milestone Capital Advisors, a fund management company he founded four years ago.
Being the driving force for Milestone, Arya successfully led the creation of eight private equity schemes investing in India. Prior to Milestone, Arya was Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Director of Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited, a position he quit in February 2007.
Before joining Future Group, he was CEO of Globus, the department store chain, which he founded in 1998 while he was with the Rajan Raheja group where he spent more than 10 years.
Referred to as one of the "India’s Hottest Young Executives" and “Shopkeeper #1” by the Business World magazine (March’ 06), Arya had a total experience of more than 20 years in the real estate and retail sector. He also had invaluable experience in setting up domestic and offshore funds.
Arya was also the founder and director of the Retailers Association of India. He was an engineering graduate with an MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad. He also spent one year in ESSEC (France) doing research and completed his Advanced Management Programme from Harvard Business School.
-IndiaRetailing Bureau
