H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB is looking to bring more of its brands to India if the government agrees to tweak its foreign direct investment policy for global retailers, Times News Network reported March 13, citing H&M India Country Manager Janne Einola.
Einola told the news outlet that the company is in talks with the government to ease sourcing norms further for single-brand retailers like H&M, which source locally for their global operations. Einola said she hopes the government would be more flexible as local sourcing for multiple brands individually may not be possible because of technical reasons.
"Once we get that sorted, we may get our other brands to India," Einola said.
The Swedish fast-fashion company owns a number of other brands that operate individual stores, including H&M Home, COS, Monki and ARKET, among others. It has 29 H&M stores across India.
India's foreign direct investment policy requires global single-brand retailers to source 30% of their products locally, but in October 2017 the country's industrial policy and promotion department said it planned to allow any Indian sourcing used in retailers' worldwide operations, such as suppliers for apparel production, to be counted toward their local sourcing requirement.
