Nike and Adidas Shoemaker Pou Chen Plans To Invest Nearly $281 Million In India

The Indian state government announced on Monday that a subsidiary of the world's largest manufacturer of branded sports footwear, Pou Chen, will invest 23.02 billion rupees ($280.86 million) in establishing a manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu.

In the fiscal year 2022, the Taiwanese footwear manufacturer for brands such as Nike, Adidas, New Balance, and Timberland produced and shipped over 272 million pairs of shoes globally, up nearly 14% from the previous year. It already has manufacturing facilities in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam.

"We hope this is the first of many investments to come (in India)," Pou Chen Vice President George Liu said during a meeting with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin that was livestreamed online.

The investment, which would create approximately 20,000 jobs in Tamil Nadu over a 12-year period, comes nearly a year after Taiwanese peer Hong Fu Group agreed to invest 10 billion rupees in the southern state to manufacture footwear.

According to a government agency report, Tamil Nadu accounted for 45 percent of India's footwear exports over the last five years, with many brands, including Giorgio Armani and Gucci, manufacturing or sourcing raw materials from the state.

Other global names, such as Apple suppliers Foxconn, Salcomp, and Pegatron, have also increased production in Tamil Nadu and the rest of the country in order to diversify their manufacturing footprint away from China and Taiwan.

Sources reported in February that Pou Chen planned to cut around 6,000 jobs at its Ho Chi Minh City plant in Vietnam due to low demand, citing two local officials.