Japanese retail brand DAISO aims BIG in India, to set up production units, expand to 100 stores
ACN EXCLUSIVE: Currently, DAISO Japan sells products that are 90% produced in-house at its own facilities in various countries especially in China, and ASEAN members. Sourcing of DAISO products from India is less than 1%.
NEW DELHI: A 2-member team from the office of the Global President’s Office of Daiso Industries Company Limited, Tokyo that owns the global value retail brand DAISO Japan, is currently on a fact-finding mission in India to explore possibilities of setting up company’s manufacturing facilities here, and produce products not only for Indian market but also for the world.
With ‘serious’ plans in its kitty to make India its production base in the time to come, this Japanese retail giant with over 6000 Daiso stores selling over 76,000 products across the world in 26 countries, is also looking at expanding its retail stores footprint as well in India from the current eight to 100 stores in next 3-4 years. 
Currently, DAISO Japan sells products that are 90% produced in-house at its own facilities in various countries especially in China, and ASEAN members. Sourcing of DAISO products from India is less than 1%.
The above revelation was made by Yoshihiro Hiramoto, who along with his colleague Tomoaki Fujimura from the Global President’s office, India Trade Department of Daiso Industries in an interview with Asian Community News (ACN) Network on Saturday after interacting with the member companies of Progressive Federation of Trade and Industry (PFTI) in Gurugram. The India visit was facilitated by Prashant Godghate, Chairman, Japan-India Industry Promotion Association (JIIPA).
“We have plans to set up our manufacturing facilities here in India to produce products not only for the Indian market but for the world and export worldwide from here and support India’s “Make in India” initiative. As we have ambitious plans to expand our retail foot print in India from the current eight DAISO stores to 100 stores in 3-4 years, we need to produce locally as importing products from outside and selling here would only add to the costing,” said Yoshihiro Hiramoto. 
He said that since India did not produce some of the products such as toys, cosmetics, perfumes, etc at a large scale, and majorly depend upon imports, DAISO planned to produce these items to begin with and later expand the product line not only for the domestic market but to export to rest of the world from here.
Prashant Godghate said that the Japanese team was touring all corners of India and collating data, and also see the feasibility and viability of its potential projects to suit its manufacturing plans.
On Saturday, the PFTI member companies not only interacted with the touring DAISO team , they also showed to it some of the products they produced in India.
Present on the occasion on Saturday were Dr. Anshul Dhingra, Director, PFTI, Adv. R L Sharma, Director, PFTI, P K Gupta, President, PFTI Gurugram.
“The DAISO team assured the PFTI that all good companies stand a very good chance of winning huge amount of business from DAISO Industries. We have plans to introduce our member companies in the field of pharmaceuticals and garments to DAISO,” said Deepak Maini, Chairman, PFTI.
PFTI are already in a pact with Tokyo-based JIIPA to foster a comprehensive collaboration, and to accelerate growth, integrate industries, and amplify the trade and investment dynamics between India and Japan.
