Nike, Adidas manufacturer Pou Chen to set up facility in Tamil Nadu, to invest nearly $281 million

The maker of branded sports footwear Pou Chen to set up a manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu will invest Rs 23.02 billion ($280.86 million), said the Indian state government.

The Taiwanese footwear maker manufactures shoes for brands like Nike, Adidas, New Balance, and Timberland. It has manufactured and shipped over 272 million pairs of shoes in the financial year 2022 globally, up nearly 14% from a year earlier. It has manufacturing plants in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam.

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

The investment, which would create about 20,000 jobs in Tamil Nadu over a span of 12 years, would come nearly a year after Taiwanese peer Hong Fu Group signed a deal to invest Rs 10 billion to make footwear in the southern state.

In the last five years, Tamil Nadu has exported 45% of India’s footwear exports for brands like Giorgio Armani and Gucci, making their products or sourcing raw materials from the state, according to a government agency report.

Separately, Pou Chen planned to cut around 6,000 jobs at its Ho Chi Minh City plant in Vietnam due to low demand, according to an earlier media report, citing two local officials.