Shoemaker Pou Chen Corp (寶成工業) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Tamil Nadu to invest 23 billion rupees (US$280.6 million) in the Indian state, the company and a government agency said.
The world’s largest contract maker of branded athletic and casual footwear is to establish a manufacturing base in a special economic zone in the state’s Kallakurichi District through High Glory Footwear India Pvt Ltd, Pou Chen said in a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing.
High Glory Footwear is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yue Yuen Industrial (Holdings) Ltd (裕元工業), which is 51.11 percent owned by Pou Chen and mainly responsible for the shoe-making group’s original equipment manufacturing (OEM) business.
Photo: Bloomberg
The investment is to be carried out in two phases from fiscal year 2023-2024 to fiscal year 2034-2035, the filing said.
Under the terms of the MOU, the Tamil Nadu government would provide infrastructure support, land allotment, investment subsidies and tax breaks to High Glory Footwear, the filing said.
The agreement gives High Glory Footwear the flexibility to complete its commitments at any time within the 12-year investment period, it said, adding that any changes to its commitments or the investment period are subject to approval by the Tamil Nadu government.
“As India offers a large supply of labor and extends favorable government policies, it is expected that this investment would be able to expand and diversify the group’s production capacities in an economically sound manner to support the sustainable of business,” the filing said.
Pou Chen last week reported that its first-quarter consolidated revenue fell 4.3 percent year-on-year to NT$64.37 billion, as OEM sales dropped 18.1 percent year-on-year amid inventory adjustments by major brands. Sales at its retail business, handled by subsidiary Pou Sheng International Ltd (寶勝國際), improved 6.5 percent thanks to steady recovery in end-market demand.
Pou Chen’s OEM business counts international brands such as Nike Inc, Adidas AG, Asics Corp, New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc, Timberland Co and Salomon SAS among its customers, company data showed.
“Over the next 12 years, this partnership will generate employment opportunities for more than 20,000 people in the non-leather footwear sector, especially for the youth and women in and around the Kallakurichi district,” Guidance Tamil Nadu wrote on Twitter yesterday.
Guidance Tamil Nadu, the state’s investment promotion agency, earlier this month announced that Hong Fu Footwear Group (宏福鞋業), another Taiwanese shoemaker, plans to invest 10 billion rupees over three to five years to establish a manufacturing base in Ranipet District, which is expected to create 20,000 jobs, the Central News Agency reported.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
RSS