Nike, Adidas shoe-maker to invest over Rs 2,000 crore in India

Leading Taiwanese footwear company Pou Chen which is known to make shoes for brands like Nike, Adidas, Timberland and New Balance will reportedly invest more than ₹2,000 crore in India. Pou Chen will set up a manufacturing unit in Tamil Nadu which is expected to create about twenty thousand jobs over a period of 12 years.

In a meeting with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Pou Chen's Vice President, George Liu said, "We hope this would be the first of many investments to come (in India)". The shoe-maker already has plants in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam. So far, Pou Chen has manufactured and shipped more than 272 million pairs of shoes in FY22 globally. This is a 14% rise from the previous year.

As per Business Today, an MoU was signed with the top officials of the company and the State investment promotion agency Guidance Tamil Nadu in April last year. This MoU was aimed at creating 20,000 jobs with the majority of employees being women once the manufacturing plant is fully operational.

Under this MoU, the investment will be made in phases over the next 3-5 years. In the past 5 years, Tamil Nadu has manufactured 45% of India's footwear exports