(This story originally appeared in on Sep 02, 2017)

NEW DELHI: US sportswear maker Nike has embarked on a major downsizing exercise in India, as a part of which it has fired 20% of its employees in the country and has asked many others to join its operations in Southeast Asia This is part of a global restructuring process that will see the company focus on 12 key cities including New York, Shanghai, London, Tokyo, Paris and Mexico City to achieve 80% of its projected growth by 2020. Not a single Indian city features on that list.Nike, which entered India in 2005, has found it a difficult market to crack. TOI had reported earlier that the Oregon-headquartered Nike had closed around 35% of its stores in India.Subsequently, it pulled out of cricket bat sponsorship deals to save costs. Nike currently operates around 200 stores here. When asked about the ongoing layoffs in India, a Nike India spokesperson said, "In June, we announced that as part of Nike's move to align the company against the Consumer Direct Offence, a strategy that allows us to serve our consumers faster and more personally, there would be workforce reductions, and that has been the case in India. Our headquarters in India remain in Bangalore with two other offices in Delhi and Mumbai."Nike, which entered India in 2005, saw its sales fall to Rs 764 crore in FY16 from Rs 803 crore in FY15, according to data from Registrar of Companies (RoC). Its losses widened too, from Rs 101 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 170 crore in 2015-16.