Adidas gets govt nod for 100% FDI, Franchise format will co-exist

German apparel major Adidas is learnt to have got an approval from the government to operate fully-owned stores with 100 per cent foreign direct investment in India. Adidas, which had been in the news for an alleged financial fraud at Reebok, a brand that it owns, had made its application to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) in July as per a Business Standard report.

The seller of sports shoes, clothing and accessories has been present in the country through franchisees for two decades now. Now, the company wants to operate both fully-owned stores as well as franchise outlets. So far, single brand retail policy did not permit a combination of business, and international chains were told to pick either of the two formats - fully-owned or franchise.

The Adidas application was only for Adidas stores, and not Reebok outlets. The group runs a total of 750 stores in India under the franchise format - for Adidas and Reebok with separate brand entities.

For the financial year ended March 2014, Adidas India reported sales of Rs 737.5 crore, and Reebok of Rs 324.2 crore, showed data with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). Puma, a German rival that had started as an offshoot of Adidas, had sales of Rs 766.7 crore in the year ended December 2014.