NEW DELHI: French sports retailer Decathlon is accelerating its investments to ramp up production and enhance its retail presence further in India, one of its “most important” global markets, its Global CEO Barbara Martin Coppola has said.

Decathlon expects to continue its “high growth rate” from the Indian market, which is also emerging as an important manufacturing hub for the sports retailer, from where it currently exports around 65 per cent of production to global markets, she added.

For Decathlon, India is currently among the top ten global markets, growing “twice the rate” of others, where it entered in 2009 and now operates a network of 129 stores, she said. Coppola said she is “really impressed” with the evolution of the sports culture in India, especially among the middle class, which is gradually getting engaged in different kinds of sports, amid a rise in their income level with the growth of the economy.

“We see a real appetite for overall sports consumption, people wanting to try new experiences. And to be honest, there is an energy that is just beautiful to see at the stores... for Decathlon, (India) for sure is one of the major markets,” Coppola said. Over investments in India, she said Decathlon has plans to accelerate local production as well as local sourcing and expand its sports retail sales network.

“I can not comment on investment but we are accelerating. We are not only accelerating presence in India from a retail perspective but also from the production perspective,” she said. “India is the most important market for Decathlon. We expect to continue the high growth,” she added. Decathlon entered India in 2009 as a cash-and-carry retailer and became a single-brand retail in 2013.