(This story originally appeared in on Oct 03, 2019)

NEW DELHI: Nike is back to square one in India. The world’s largest sportswear maker has slashed the number of stores to around 150 and may further bring it down to around 100, sources said.The US-headquartered company, which hit $10.7 billion in global revenue lifted by its sales in China during the first quarter ended August 31, has all but withdrawn from most of its franchise agreements in India and has decided to go along with only one strategic partner New Delhi-based SSIPL (Sports Station), which will operate its offline stores.Nike will directly focus on online sales in India, mainly through Flipkart Group and Amazon.As reported first by TOI, Nike started consolidating its business in India in 2016 when it shuttered 35% of its stores to cut its losses. During its peak, the owner of the iconic Swoosh logo operated around 350 stores across the country.Subsequently, the company downsized its workforce in India, asking many to join its operations in Southeast Asia . Currently, its rivals Puma and Adidas run around 360 and 600-700 stores in India.The move was part of a global-restructuring process that saw the company focusing on 12 key global cities including New York, Shanghai, London, Tokyo, Paris and Mexico City to achieve 80% of its projected growth by 2020. Not even one Indian city featured on that list.Before Nike officially forayed into India with its subsidiary around 15 years ago, SSIPL (formerly known as Moja Shoes), brought Nike products into the domestic market. While an SSIPL spokesperson was not available for comment, Nike did not respond to an emailed questionnaire.Nike India notched up sales of around Rs 829 crore during the year ended March 2018, trailing Adidas (Rs 1,131 crore) and Puma (Rs 1,157 crore — calendar year 2018).