2 days ago
Decathlon plans $3 billion of sourcing from India by 2030
New Delhi: French sports goods retailer Decathlon has announced plans to scale its sourcing from India to $3 billion by 2030.
This move aims to serve both the domestic and international markets. Currently, Decathlon's sourcing value from India, both for domestic and overseas markets, stands at $480 million.
In terms of volume, India accounts for 8% of Decathlon's global sourcing quantities, with a goal to increase this to 15% by 2030.
Additionally, the retailer plans to double its Indian business by 2023. Decathlon currently operates 132 stores across 55 cities in India with plans to expand its retail footprint to over 90 cities by 2030.
India has already established itself as one of Decathlon's top-four manufacturing markets.
Frederic Merlevede, head of Decathlon production, said, "Our long-term investment in India reflects the deep trust we've built with our partners and the strong potential we see in key categories like footwear, fitness equipment, and beyond."
India is already an active part of Decathlon's global manufacturing. For instance, 35% of all umbrellas for global Decathlon are produced in India. Additionally, India accounts for more than 20% of Decathlon's global textile share and is a chosen country for co-developing woven and knit products for worldwide distribution. India is also a major exporter of rugby balls for Decathlon, with 60% of the global supply being 'Made in India'.
Currently, Decathlon produces 100 million units of sports goods from India. Over the next five to ten years, the company has outlined plans to increase its focus on the production of footwear, cricket products, technical sports balls, technical textiles, kids' sporting accessories, metal sports equipment, fitness equipment, electronics, technical sports products, alloy-carbon bicycle frames, and swimming inflatables.
The company will continue to partner with third-party manufacturers rather than operating its own factories.
'We are diversifying the range of products sourced from India. Across each range there is also an industry behind, so this can really create a big positive impact in terms of job creation. Today we source textile industries such as sports footwear, textiles, polymer injection, wood making of cricket bats, backpacks, outdoor badminton equipment etc. We have scaled across a lot of category of products in India, like backpacks, bicycles, cricket products, badminton, rackets, gloves, socks, caps etc—we feel very confident with the supplier panel we have in India, and the future looks robust for us with all these category of products,' Deepak D'Souza, head of Decathlon India production, told Mint in an interview.
Meanwhile, over 70% of the quantities sold in India in 2025 are locally made, and this figure is expected to rise to 90% by 2030.
The French retailer first began procuring goods from India in 2000. Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are large sports goods manufacturing hubs.
Merlevede said that India's manufacturing capabilities, which were less developed a decade ago, have improved.
'When the product becomes available, the manufacturing gets extremely competitive, and we are willing to take this opportunity to export this product to our different markets. Also, there is a discussion between Europe and India for a free trade agreement—it could be a welcome positive for Decathlon. In some way it could be an accelerator," he said in an interview with Mint.
Decathlon's production ecosystem in India includes 113 third-party manufacturing sites, 83 suppliers, and 7 production offices.
The company is also deepening its focus on culturally rooted sports like yoga and cricket, with the latter being entirely conceptualized and manufactured in India. Decathlon aims to create more than 300,000 new job opportunities within its direct and indirect workforce as part of this growth journey.
The sports goods retailer operates 1,700 stores worldwide.
