Mochi is an Indian footwear brand owned by Mumbai-listed Metro Brands Limited, sold through around 279 of its own stores and priced mostly between ₹1,000 and ₹3,700. Despite a name that reads as Japanese to a lot of shoppers, there is nothing Japanese about it. The more useful thing to know is that Metro Brands does not make a single shoe it sells — and that the price on a Mochi tag is almost never the price anyone pays.
Mochi is an Indian brand owned by Mumbai-listed Metro Brands and sold in about 279 of its own stores. Metro Brands owns no factory and buys from more than 250 vendors, so nobody there makes a shoe. The MRP is not the price either: Mochi’s average realisation per unit is ₹1,471.
Snapshot
- Founded
- Mochi commenced sales in 1977; first standalone Mochi store opened in 2000, Mumbai, India
- Founder
- The Malik family; Rafique A. Malik is chairman
- Headquarters
- Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
- Current owner
- Metro Brands Limited (NSE and BSE listed since December 2021); promoters hold 71.8%
- Category
- Footwear
- Price band in India
- Typical MRP ₹1,490 to ₹3,690; company states a ₹1,000 to ₹10,000 range across the brand
- Available in India
- Official — Mochi stores, mochishoes.com, and marketplace brand stores
How it started
The Malik family opened its first Metro store in Mumbai in 1955, selling other people’s shoes rather than making its own — a retailing decision that still defines the business seventy years later. The company was incorporated in 1977, which is also when Mochi began selling as a label inside that network.
Mochi as most people know it is much younger. The first standalone Mochi store did not open until 2000, when the family split its retail into two personalities: Metro for the older, formal, family shopper, and Mochi for a younger one who wanted colour and heels and party shoes. In 2007 Rakesh Jhunjhunwala backed the business, and in December 2021 Metro Brands listed. As of 31 March 2025 the group ran 908 stores in 205 cities across 31 states and union territories.
One small caution: Metro Brands’ own website carries “since 1947” in its page titles while the same site says the first store opened in 1955 and the annual report describes the company as celebrating 70 years. We use 1955 for the first store and 1977 for incorporation, because those are the dates the company states in prose rather than in a page title.
- Mumbai, 1955First Metro store opens, selling other makers’ shoes
- 1977Company incorporated; Mochi begins selling as a label
- 2000First standalone Mochi store opens
- 2007Rakesh Jhunjhunwala backs the business
- December 2021Metro Brands lists on the NSE and BSE
The diagram shows how the Malik family’s single shoe shop became the listed owner of Mochi.
What they actually make
Nothing. This is the single most misunderstood fact about Mochi, Metro and Walkway, and it is stated plainly in the company’s own IPO documentation: Metro Brands sources all of its products through outsourcing arrangements and has no manufacturing facility of its own, which the company describes as an asset-light model. It works with more than 250 vendors, many of them for over twenty years.
That is not a scandal — it is a different business. Liberty and Relaxo own factories and sell through other people’s shops. Metro Brands owns shops and buys from other people’s factories. It is why the group can carry a 30% EBITDA margin on ₹2,507 crore of FY2025 revenue while a manufacturer like Liberty grinds out single-digit margins on a fifth of that turnover. What you are paying for at Mochi is curation, store rent and returns policy, not a factory.
Mochi also sits inside a wider house of brands, and telling the owned labels from the licensed ones matters when you are judging who stands behind a product.
- Owns the labelsMochi, Metro, Walkway, Da Vinchi and J. Fontini
- Retails for othersCrocs, FitFlop, FILA, Foot Locker and Clarks
- ManufacturesNothing at all; more than 250 outside vendors supply everything
The name on the box tells you who chose the shoe, not who made it.
What Mochi costs in India
Mochi is an Indian brand made in Indian factories, so there is no import-duty gap to expose. The gap worth exposing is a different one — between the MRP and what anyone actually pays. Prices below are from mochishoes.com as of August 2026.
| Product | MRP | Listed price |
|---|---|---|
| Women’s black casual sandals | ₹2,490 | ₹1,618 (35% off) |
| Women’s beige casual slippers | ₹2,290 | ₹1,603 (30% off) |
| Women’s black casual slip-ons | ₹1,690 | ₹1,098 (35% off) |
| Women’s black party slip-ons | ₹2,490 | ₹2,213 (11% off) |
- MRP on the tag
- ₹2,490
- Price on mochishoes.com
- ₹1,618
- Gap
- −35%
- Checked on
- August 2026
Discounts of 30–35% appear across the catalogue rather than on a clearance rail, which tells you the MRP is a reference point rather than a price. The company’s own IPO disclosure puts a number on it: Mochi’s average realisation per unit was ₹1,471 against a stated brand range of ₹1,000 to ₹10,000.
The typical Mochi customer buys a shoe near the bottom of the advertised band, not the middle of it.
Is that unfair? No — it is standard Indian footwear retail, and Metro Brands is more honest about it than most because the discounted price is shown up front rather than hidden behind a coupon code. But it should change how you shop. Never treat a Mochi MRP as a signal of quality, and never pay one: at ₹1,490 to ₹2,490 MRP you are looking at a ₹1,000 to ₹1,600 shoe, which is a fair price for what it is and a poor one if you paid the sticker.
Who Mochi is actually for
Mochi is for the shopper who wants an occasion shoe — a wedding, a party, an office day that needs a heel — without spending ₹4,000 and without ordering blind online. The stores are the point: staff bring boxes, you try three pairs, you walk out. For Indian wedding-season footwear in particular, where fit and colour matching matter and returns are a nuisance, that is a genuine advantage over any online-first brand.
Skip Mochi if you want durability above style. These are outsourced fashion shoes built to a price, and the honest expectation for a ₹1,600 party sandal is a season or two of occasional wear, not years of daily use. Skip it too if you need everyday walking or work footwear — Metro Brands will happily sell you Crocs, Clarks or FitFlop in the same store for that, and those are better tools for the job. And skip the MRP entirely.
Reputation and controversies
Mochi has no significant documented controversies as of August 2026 — no product recalls, labour findings or regulatory actions attached to the brand.
Two things are worth flagging that are not controversies but are facts a buyer should have. First, because Metro Brands owns no factories, it does not publish who makes its shoes, so there is no supply-chain transparency to examine — if that matters to you, it is absent here in a way it is not at a manufacturer that lists its own plants. Second, the “since 1947” line on the company’s website sits awkwardly against its own statement that the first store opened in 1955; the difference is presentational rather than material, but a brand history that varies by which page you read is worth noting on a site that checks these things.
Buying it in India
Stay inside the company’s own retail
Buy from a Mochi store, from mochishoes.com, or from the official Mochi and Metro brand stores on the major marketplaces. Metro Brands runs its retail end to end, so there is no authorised-dealer grey area to navigate.
Fakes are not the risk here
Nobody bothers faking the Mochi label, because the margin does not justify it and the brand’s value lives in the store rather than the logo.
Expect the design to be copied, not the label
Near-identical party heels turn up in any Indian shoe market at a third of the price. That is a copy of the style, not a counterfeit of the brand.
Treat a huge discount as a warning
Since 30–35% off is the normal state of the catalogue, a marketplace listing shouting “70% off Mochi” against an inflated MRP is not a bargain. Compare it against mochishoes.com before buying.
Do not look for it abroad
There is no case for buying Mochi from overseas. It is an Indian brand sold in India.
Common questions
Is Mochi an Indian brand or a Japanese one?
Indian. Mochi is owned by Metro Brands Limited, headquartered in Mumbai and listed on the NSE and BSE. The company has not published a naming rationale, but the word needs no explanation in India — मोची means cobbler in Hindi and Marathi. There is no Japanese connection.
Who owns Mochi?
Metro Brands Limited, a Mumbai-listed company controlled by the Malik family, who hold about 71.8% between them. Rafique A. Malik is chairman and Farah Malik Bhanji is managing director. The company also owns Metro, Walkway, Da Vinchi and J. Fontini, and retails Crocs, FitFlop, FILA, Foot Locker and Clarks.
Why is Mochi always on discount?
Because the MRP is a reference price, not a selling price. Discounts of 30–35% run across the regular catalogue, and the company’s own IPO disclosure put Mochi’s average realisation per unit at ₹1,471. Treat the discounted figure as the actual price of the shoe.
Does Mochi make its own shoes?
No. Metro Brands states that it sources all products through outsourcing arrangements with more than 250 vendors and operates no manufacturing facility of its own. Mochi is a retailer’s own label, not a factory brand.
Is Mochi good quality for the price?
At the real price — roughly ₹1,000 to ₹1,600 — yes, for occasion and party footwear. At full MRP, no. These are fashion shoes built to a cost, and they are best judged as a season purchase rather than a multi-year one.
References
- Metro Brands, Mochi brand page — 1977 start of sales, first standalone store in 2000, 279 Mochi stores as of 31 December 2025, youth positioning
- Metro Brands, About Us — 1955 first Metro store in Mumbai, and the “since 1947” page-title discrepancy
- Metro Brands Limited, Annual Report 2024–25 — FY2025 revenue of ₹2,507 crore, 30.3% EBITDA margin, 908 stores in 205 cities, board and management
- Axis Capital, Metro Brands IPO note — asset-light model with no manufacturing facility, 250+ vendors, Mochi’s ₹1,000–₹10,000 range and ₹1,471 average realisation per unit, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s backing since 2007, 598 stores at IPO
- Screener, Metro Brands Ltd — FY2026 sales and net profit, market capitalisation, 71.8% promoter holding
- Mochi Shoes, women’s Mochi listing — MRPs and discounted prices, August 2026
How we research and verify brand audits:
our methodology.
Mochi is a good shop pretending to be a brand, and that is less of an insult than it sounds. Metro Brands is one of the best-run retailers in Indian footwear — 908 stores, a 30% EBITDA margin, and seventy years of not doing anything stupid — and Mochi is the sharpest-dressed window in that estate. If you want an occasion shoe you can try on, in a store that will take it back, at a real price of ₹1,000 to ₹1,600, it is a sensible place to spend. Just understand what you are buying: a design chosen by a retailer, made by a vendor it will not name, marked at a price it does not expect you to pay.
Buy the shoe, ignore the sticker, and do not expect a factory behind the name.
