Nod Is Received by H&M to Set up Retail Stores in India

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) of India approved Swedish clothing retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M)’s proposal to open 50 stores in India.

The proposal to set up 50 single-brand stores at an investment of Rs 7.2 billion or around $113 million was put up by H&M in April 2013.

During a visit to India in February this year, Mr. Karl Johan Persson, CEO of H&M, said the company has studied India's single-brand retail policy for foreign direct investment (FDI) and would be able to comply with it.

The Swedish apparel retailer has set up a wholly owned subsidiary H & M Hennes & Mauritz India (P) Ltd, with its head office located in Bangalore.

A Sweden based H&M spokesperson, when contacted by fibre2fashion declined to comment on the development since they had not received any notification from the Indian government.

However, he added that once they receive the go-ahead, they would move fast towards setting up of the first H&M store in India.

H&M is the second Swedish retailer after furniture and interior furnishings retailer IKEA to get approval from FIPB to start single-brand retail operations in India.

Sweden based Hennes & Mauritz AB group is the world's second biggest clothing retailer by sales behind Spain based Inditex SA, which owns the fast fashion brand – Zara.

Hennes & Mauritz AB group which operates around 3,000 stores globally, also manages other brands like COS, Monki, Weekday, Cheap Monday and & Other Stories.