Decathlon to accelerate investments in India on production, retailing

French sports retailer Decathlon is accelerating its investments to ramp up production and enhance its retail presence further in India, one of its “most important” global markets, its Global CEO Barbara Martin Coppola has said.
Decathlon expects to continue its “high growth rate” from the Indian market, which is also emerging as an important manufacturing hub for the sports retailer, from where it currently exports around 65 per cent of production to global markets, she added.
For Decathlon, India is currently among the top ten global markets, growing “twice the rate” of others, where it entered in 2009 and now operates a network of 129 stores, she said.
Coppola said she is “really impressed” with the evolution of the sports culture in India, especially among the middle class, which is gradually getting engaged in different kinds of sports, amid a rise in their income level with the growth of the economy.