Levi’s is an American denim brand, and in India it is sold by a company Levi Strauss & Co. owns outright rather than by a licensee or a franchise partner. A typical Levi’s garment was charged at ₹2,344 on the marketplace on 15 September 2026, and the 501 sits at ₹4,999. The most useful fact about it here: on the three style codes matched on that day, the Indian price was the lower one.
Levi’s India is a wholly owned subsidiary of the New York-listed parent, and it files real accounts here — ₹2,217 crore of revenue and ₹202.3 crore of profit in FY2025. On 15 September 2026 the 501 Original Fit women’s jeans in a medium wash, style 12501-0687, listed at $110.00 in the United States and sold at ₹4,999 in India, which is 47.5% of the converted American list. India is the declared country of origin on 37 of 40 marketplace records, so customs duty explains nothing about what you pay here.
Snapshot
- Indian company
- Levi Strauss (India) Private Limited, CIN U18101KA1994PTC015448, incorporated 31 March 1994
- Parent
- Levi Strauss & Co., New York Stock Exchange, ticker LEVI
- Indian head office
- ITC Green Centre, Banaswadi Main Road, Maruthi Seva Nagar, Bengaluru 560005
- Ownership
- Wholly owned subsidiary, held through Levi Strauss Mauritius Limited
- Category
- Apparel — denim, with jeans on 84 of 100 marketplace listings sounded
- Price band in India
- Median ₹2,344 charged on the marketplace; the 501 at ₹4,999 and the Type III Sherpa Trucker at ₹7,999, 15 September 2026
- Indian revenue
- ₹2,217 crore in FY2025, with ₹202.3 crore of profit
- Available in India
- Official — 500 stores as at 21 August 2026, levi.in, Myntra and Ajio
How Levi’s came to India
The Indian company was incorporated on 31 March 1994 and opened its first store in Bengaluru in June 1995. It has sat on the parent’s own list of subsidiaries since at least the 2011 financial year — the cleanest proof that India was never franchised out.
Growth was slow and then steady: roughly 50 outlets in 2004 on trade reporting, about 270 exclusive stores by 2009, and over 450 across 150 cities by November 2024.
- June 1995First store opens in Bengaluru
- 2009About 270 exclusive stores
- November 2024Over 450 stores across 150 cities
- 21 August 2026500th store, Phoenix Marketcity Whitefield, Bengaluru
Thirty-one years from one store to five hundred.
The 500th store, in the brand’s premium “ICON” format, opened weeks before this audit was written. On the company’s own account, e-commerce runs at about a quarter of Indian revenue, across levi.in, Myntra and Ajio.
Who actually owns Levi’s in India
Every link sits on a public filing. The subsidiary exhibit to the parent’s financial-year 2025 annual report, filed on 28 January 2026, names a Mauritius company and a single India-organised entity.
- Levi Strauss & Co.New York Stock Exchange, ticker LEVI
- Levi Strauss Mauritius LimitedNamed in the same subsidiary exhibit
- Levi Strauss (India) Private LimitedIncorporated 31 March 1994, Bengaluru
No Indian partner sits anywhere in that chain. Levi’s Indian site names the same company as the seller in its terms of use, and it is the seller of record on 16 of 40 marketplace records — a licensee would sit in those places instead.
The register mirrors do not carry the Mauritius company’s exact percentage holding, so this audit calls it the named holding company rather than putting a number on it. They also give four different lists of current directors; only Hiren Mahesh Gor and Abhishek Basu appear on all four.
The parent says nothing about India
Every India figure on this page comes from an Indian statutory filing, because the New York filings stop at “Asia”. The parent reports full-year 2025 net revenues of $6,282.0 million, of which Asia is $1,134.4 million. There is no India line, no India store count within the 444 Asian stores, and no country named in the sourcing disclosure covering about 32 of them.
Where the clothes are actually made
Forty marketplace records were read in full on 15 September 2026. India is the declared country of origin on 37 and Bangladesh on 2. Twenty distinct manufacturer or importer strings appear, and not one record leaves that line blank — against 9 blanks of 40 on Gap.
The Legal Metrology declaration names the company legally answerable for the goods, not the factory that sewed them, so twenty names is a fact about accountability rather than about tailoring. Myntra’s own label Roadster declared eighteen across the same sample size.
Arvind Limited, and what each source actually says
Arvind Limited is the declared manufacturer on 8 of those 40 records. Separately, Arvind’s own website names Levi’s among the customers of its shirting division, which it says can produce up to 10 million shirts a year. Those are two different statements and neither is the other.
Against that, Arvind’s annual reports for 2023-24 and 2017-18 do not mention Levi’s or Levi Strauss anywhere, while the same documents name Gap, H&M, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein as customers. No contract, term or volume between the two companies is published. The honest description is the narrow one: Arvind names Levi’s as a shirting customer, and Levi’s declares Arvind Limited as manufacturer on some Indian listings. Calling Arvind the brand’s manufacturing partner would go further than any source does.
The 37-of-40 India figure comes from marketplace listings, not from the ₹4,999 pair on Levi’s own site. Country of origin is printed on the garment’s own label — read it there before assuming where a particular pair was made.
What Levi’s costs in India
Levi’s uses the same style-and-colour code in both markets, which makes a true same-garment comparison possible. Three codes were priced in both markets on 15 September 2026.
| Style code and product | US list | India |
|---|---|---|
| 12501-0687 — 501 Original Fit women’s jeans, medium wash | $110.00 | ₹4,999 |
| 16365-0346 — Type III Sherpa Trucker jacket, medium | $130.00 | ₹7,999 |
| 16365-0291 — Type III Sherpa Trucker jacket, black | $130.00 | ₹7,999 |
The rate, and what the conversion is
The rate used here is ₹95.7245 to one US dollar as at 1.00 p.m. on 11 September 2026, computed by Financial Benchmarks India and displayed by the Reserve Bank of India. No rate for 15 September had been published when these prices were read, and there is no 14 September rate because the Indian markets were closed that day for Ganesh Chaturthi.
At that rate $110.00 comes to ₹10,529.70 and $130.00 comes to ₹12,444.19. That is arithmetic — what a published rate turns a published dollar price into on a stated day. It is not a statement about what the garment should cost.
- US list, converted
- ₹10,529.70
- Indian price
- ₹4,999
- Gap
- 52.5% cheaper in India
- Checked on
- 15 September 2026
On the jacket the Indian price is 64.3% of the converted list. Neither result is sensitive to the rate: at the traded quote of about 95.84 that morning, or at the 7 September benchmark of 94.4467, the answer does not move.
Take the tax out and the gap widens
The two prices are not quoted on the same basis, and both halves of that are published. Levi’s US payment policy states that sales or use tax is charged on orders shipped to 35 named states and jurisdictions, so the $110.00 is pre-tax. Levi’s Indian terms say the opposite — prices there include GST, duties and cesses — and the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 require an Indian retail price to be declared inclusive of all taxes anyway.
Indian GST on readymade garments has been 18% above ₹2,500 a piece and 5% at or below it since 22 September 2025, and both garments are above that line. Strip the 18% out and the 501 is ₹4,236.44 and the jacket ₹6,778.81 — India at 40.2% and 54.5% of an American list that was already pre-tax.
Taking the tax out of both sides does not close the gap. It widens it, and the Indian price falls to about 40% of the American one.
One more thing came out of the same exercise: eight of ten Indian style codes showed nothing on the American site. Most of what Levi’s sells here is not the US range imported — it is product made for this market, which fits India on 37 of 40 origin declarations. And where a garment is made and sold in India, there is no import duty in its price at all. The argument that explains so much of Indian pricing does not apply here.
What Levi’s charges against its own MRP
Across a sounding of 100 marketplace listings on 15 September 2026, Levi’s charged 66.6% of MRP, with 93 reduced, 31 distinct MRPs and 22 discount rungs. The printed price is rarely the price paid — the opposite of Jockey, which charged full MRP on every listing in an earlier sounding.
Levi’s own shop is the dearer channel. Of 2,000 products on levi.in, 1,904 carried a comparison price and charged 73.8% of it, at a median of ₹2,339. That comparison figure is the shop’s own reference number rather than a declared MRP, so the two percentages measure slightly different things — but the gap is about seven points, away from the brand’s own site.
Who Levi’s is actually for
This is denim for someone who wants a recognisable name at a mid-market Indian price. A ₹2,344 median and a 501 at ₹4,999 put it above the value chains and below the imported premium names.
Indian buyers expect a foreign label to cost more here than abroad, and on these three style codes Levi’s does not. If you were planning to pick up one of those styles on a trip to the United States, the arithmetic above, for that day, favoured buying here.
A buyer who wants to check environmental claims against a specific garment will find the origin line on every record read; the cotton and water claims rest on scheme membership and the company’s own reporting.
Reputation and what the claims rest on
The sustainability claims, and the assurance line under them
Levi Strauss & Co. publishes a Sustainability Goals and Metrics document, uploaded in July 2026 and covering financial year 2025. Its most important sentence is the one about assurance: the document and the related website content are “unaudited and have not been subject to third-party assurance, with exception of our scope 1, scope 2 and scope 3 category 3 emissions”.
That sets the limit on everything else in it. On cotton the company reports 100% “more sustainable cotton” — Better Cotton, Cotton made in Africa, the US Cotton Trust Protocol, or recycled, organic or transitional cotton. Behind it is membership of certification schemes; the document does not publish a separate test of the fibre.
The scheme itself adds a qualification. Better Cotton works on mass balance and says so plainly: the arrangement “allows BCI Cotton to be substituted or mixed with conventional cotton as long as equivalent volumes are sourced as BCI Cotton”, and the logo on a product “doesn’t mean the product is made of Traceable… BCI Cotton”. A 100% figure describes volumes bought at group level, not the fibre in one pair of jeans.
On water the company reports against itself. Its goal was to cut freshwater use in manufacturing by 50% in water-stressed areas by 2025; the 2025 document records it as concluded at roughly 23% progress, from a 2018 baseline. A replacement goal of 40% recycled and reused water by 2030 carries no number yet, and the named tools are measurement platforms rather than certificates.
An advertising finding from 2016, and its limits
The Advertising Standards Council of India’s Consumer Complaints Council upheld a complaint against Levi Strauss (India) in September 2016 over a “Flat 50% off” claim, as misleading by ambiguity: the discount was calculated on a reference price that included VAT, with VAT then added after the discount. One upheld complaint was found, and it concerned a discount claim rather than a product or fabric claim.
ASCI is a self-regulatory body. Its findings are not legal decisions and carry no penalty, and this one was on a particular advertisement as it then stood — nobody has ruled on how the brand prices or advertises today. It sits beside the reading above: 66.6% of MRP charged across 100 listings on 15 September 2026, with 93 reduced and 22 discount rungs.
What has been decided in court
Two matters have reached a decision. In Levi Strauss & Co. v. Imperial Online Services Private Limited, CS (COMM) 657/2021, the Delhi High Court delivered final judgment on 24 March 2022, holding the Arcuate Stitching Design to be a valid trademark, granting a permanent injunction and awarding ₹4 lakh against the ₹8.5 lakh claimed. Two published commentaries disagree about whether the court also declared the mark well-known under the Trade Marks Act, 1999 — one says it did, the other says the judgment does not state it — and this audit does not pick between them.
In Levi Strauss & Co. v. K.K.K. Garments, judgment of 21 February 2026, a decree of ₹50,000 in damages was passed against the third defendant, with costs also awarded. Both are decided matters, and no appeal against either was found.
No later upheld advertising finding against the brand was found. That is a nothing-found rather than a nothing-there: the council’s own annual report names no individual advertiser, so brand names surface only through trade reporting of its monthly listings.
Buying it in India
The two marks Levi’s actually names
Levi’s own help article points to the Tab Device on the back right pocket and the Arcuate Stitching Design — the double arcs — on the back pockets. That is the whole of what it publishes for a buyer to look at.
There is nothing to verify against
Beyond those two marks, no authentication method is published — no code, no serial number, no hologram, no verification service.
“Authorised retailer” is an instruction without a list
Levi’s tells buyers to use levi.com or an authorised Levi’s retailer, and publishes no list of who those are in India. The store locator in its Indian site’s footer is the nearest thing to one.
Read the origin and manufacturer line
Every Indian listing and pack carries the declaration: price inclusive of all taxes, country of origin, and the company answerable for the goods. Of 40 records read on 15 September 2026, none left it blank.
The MRP is not the price
With 93 of 100 listings reduced and 22 discount rungs on one day, paying the printed MRP is unusual — and the marketplace ran about seven points cheaper than the brand’s site.
Common questions
Is Levi’s cheaper in India than in America?
On the three style codes checked on 15 September 2026, yes. The 501 women’s jeans listed at $110.00 in the US and sold at ₹4,999 here, which is 47.5% of the converted list at ₹95.7245 to the dollar. The Sherpa Trucker came to 64.3%. Strip Indian GST out and those fall to 40.2% and 54.5%.
Where are Levi’s jeans sold in India made?
India is the declared country of origin on 37 of 40 marketplace records read on 15 September 2026, with Bangladesh on 2. Eight of ten Indian style codes showed nothing on the American site, so most of the Indian range is made for this market rather than imported.
Who owns Levi’s in India?
Levi Strauss (India) Private Limited, incorporated on 31 March 1994 and based in Bengaluru. It is named in the parent’s own subsidiary exhibit alongside Levi Strauss Mauritius Limited, which register mirrors name as its holding company. It is not a licence or a franchise.
How do I check whether a pair of Levi’s is genuine?
Levi’s publishes two things to look at — the Tab Device on the back right pocket and the Arcuate double-arc stitching on the back pockets — and tells buyers to use an authorised retailer without naming any. No code, serial number or verification service is published.
Is Levi’s cheaper on Myntra than on the brand’s own site?
On 15 September 2026 it was. Across 100 marketplace listings Levi’s charged 66.6% of MRP; on levi.in, 1,904 of 2,000 products carried a comparison price and charged 73.8% of it. The two figures are not identical measures, but the gap is about seven points.
Does Levi’s report how much it earns in India?
Its Indian company does, through statutory filings: ₹2,217 crore of revenue and ₹202.3 crore of profit in FY2025, against ₹1,836.4 crore and ₹159.4 crore in FY2024. The New York-listed parent reports only Americas, Europe and Asia, with no India line anywhere.
How we research and verify brand audits: our methodology.
References
- Levi’s US product page, style 125010687, 15 September 2026 — the $110.00 US list price for the 501 Original Fit women’s jeans
- Reserve Bank of India, reference rate box, 15 September 2026 — ₹95.7245 to one US dollar as at 1.00 p.m. on 11 September 2026, computed by FBIL
- MSEI, reference rate archive, 15 September 2026 — the same 11 September figure, and no entry for 14 or 15 September
- Levi’s US payment policy, 15 September 2026 — sales or use tax charged on top of the listed price in 35 named states and jurisdictions
- Levi’s India terms of use, 15 September 2026 — Indian prices inclusive of GST, duties and cesses; names the Indian company as seller
- Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 — retail sale price to be declared inclusive of all taxes
- CAclubindia, 18 December 2025 — apparel GST at 5% up to ₹2,500 and 18% above it, effective 22 September 2025
- Levi Strauss & Co., subsidiary exhibit to the FY2025 annual report, filed 28 January 2026 — Levi Strauss (India) Private Limited and Levi Strauss Mauritius Limited
- Levi Strauss & Co., Form 10-K for the year ended 30 November 2025 — three segments, 1,231 stores in 38 countries, sourcing from about 32 countries
- Levi Strauss & Co., fourth-quarter and full-year results, 28 January 2026 — FY2025 net revenues $6,282.0m and the Asia segment at $1,134.4m
- IndiaFilings register mirror, 15 September 2026 — CIN, 31 March 1994 incorporation, registered office, latest filing dates
- The Company Check register mirror, 15 September 2026 — names Levi Strauss Mauritius Ltd as holding company; FY24 revenue ₹1,843.7 crore
- Tofler register mirror, 15 September 2026 — FY2020 to FY2024 sales and net profit, including FY24 revenue ₹1,836.4 crore
- Images Business of Fashion, 27 August 2026 — Indian store counts from 1995, FY2013 to FY2025 revenue and profit, the 500th store
- Indian Retailer interview, 12 November 2024 — over 450 stores across 150 cities; e-commerce about a quarter of Indian revenue; Myntra and Ajio named
- Arvind Limited, fabric and apparel page, 15 September 2026 — names Levi’s among shirting-division customers; 10 million shirts of annual capacity
- Arvind Limited, integrated annual report 2023-24 — names Gap and H&M as customers and does not mention Levi’s
- Levi Strauss & Co., Sustainability Goals and Metrics, FY2025 — the unaudited assurance statement, 100% more sustainable cotton, and the concluded water goal at about 23%
- Better Cotton, on its logo and mass balance — the on-product mark does not indicate physically traceable Better Cotton
- Levi’s help centre, “Are My Levi’s Jeans Authentic?”, 15 September 2026 — the Tab Device, the Arcuate Stitching Design and the authorised-retailer instruction
- S.S. Rana & Co. on Levi Strauss & Co. v. Imperial Online Services, 24 March 2022 — permanent injunction and ₹4 lakh awarded; says the mark was declared well-known
- IIPRD on the same judgment — ₹4,00,000 awarded; says the judgment does not explicitly declare the mark well-known
- Levi Strauss & Co. v. K.K.K. Garments, 21 February 2026 — decree of ₹50,000 in damages against the third defendant, with costs
- Adgully, 20 December 2016 — the ASCI Consumer Complaints Council’s September 2016 finding on the “Flat 50% off” claim
- exchange4media, 20 December 2016 — the same listing, corroborating the September 2016 finding
On the styles matched, buy it here. On 15 September 2026 the same 501 that lists at $110.00 in America sold at ₹4,999 in India — 47.5% of the converted list, and 40.2% with Indian GST taken out against an American price that was already pre-tax. On those three codes that day, it was a foreign label costing less here, and the other half of the reading helps explain it: 37 of 40 records declare India as the country of origin, so there is no customs duty in the price to argue about. Buy on the marketplace, not the brand’s own site, which ran about seven points dearer the same day.
The sustainability figures are worth reading with their footnotes. The cotton and water claims rest on scheme membership, the company’s own document calls itself unaudited except for certain emissions, and Better Cotton’s rules say the mark does not make the fibre traceable. The 50% freshwater goal finished at about 23% — which the company publishes itself, and deserves credit for publishing. For checking a pair, Levi’s publishes two stitching details and no verification service.
On the matched styles read, the Indian price was the better deal; the sustainability figures are largely the company’s own, unassured reporting.
