A subsidiary of leading Taiwanese footwear manufacturing company Pou Chen will reportedly invest around $281 million in India in order to set up a manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu. This will be first of many investments in India by the footwear company, which is known to make shoes for brands like Nike, Adidas, Timberland and New Balance.
Pou Chen's vice president, George Liu, in a meeting with Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, said: “We hope this would be the first of many investments to come (in India).” Pou Chen manufactured and shipped more than 272 million pairs of shoes in FY22 globally, up around 14 per cent from a year earlier. It already has plants in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
The investment could create 20,000 jobs in Tamil Nadu over a period of 12 years, the news agency Reuters reported. The investment would come almost a year after another Taiwanese footwear manufacturer, the Hong Fu Group, signed a deal to invest Rs 1,000 crore to set up a footwear unit in Tamil Nadu.
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.
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The investments under this MoU would be made in phases over the next 3-5 years and the unit would also boost footwear exports. Hong Fu makes shoes for international brands like Puma, Converse, and Nike among others.
Tamil Nadu manufactured 45 per cent of India’s footwear exports over the last five years with top brands, including Gucci and Giorgio Armani, making products or sourcing raw materials from the state.
Pou Chen, however, is not the only global company to set up its manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu. Apple suppliers Foxconn, Pegatron, and Salcomp have also ramped up their production in Tamil Nadu and India as they look to diversify manufacturing.
(With Reuters inputs)
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