The Hennes & Mauritz’s (H&M) country manager for India, Janne Einola, is stepping down from his role of overseeing the fashion retailer’s business in the market. Einola is set to leave the company by the end of October and will move back to Helsinki, livemint reported. ‘He will be taking a break before deciding on the next course of his professional life and his last day will be the end of October post which he will be moving back to Helsinki to join his wife and kids,’ the company said.

H&M has not announced a successor for Einola yet, but those familiar with the company said the retailer could dip into its talent pool globally to fill the role.

Einola has spent over two decades with H&M starting as a department manager. He subsequently moved to work across four markets and nine countries. He was appointed the first country manager for India in 2015 when the retailer leveraged the single brand FDI policy to open its maiden store in India. It had promised to open 50 stores in the country with investments of Rs 700 crore. Today, H&M closed 50 stores in India. “For the past five years, he has driven India’s fast expansion and locally relevant customer experience but has now decided to move on for personal reasons,” the company said.

In 2019, it stitched up a partnership with Flipkart-owned online retailer Myntra to sell its accessible fashion wear online. In 2018, it debuted online commerce through its local website and app.