Ikea plans first retail store in India

Hyderabad: Ikea, the world's largest furniture retailer, will open its first retail store in India at Hyderabad in the second half of 2017.
The Swedish company's first outlet in the country is coming up near Hitech City, close to the IT hub here. The company, which had received government approval in 2013 for its proposal to open retail stores under 100 per cent FDI route, had announced in July last year the purchase of 13 acres of land near HITEC city.
The Hyderabad outlet will be spread over a massive four lakh square feet area and will include all features of a global Ikea store, including restaurant and play and development area.
Ikea has plans to open 25 outlets in nine cities across India by 2025. It is already scouting for suitable sites in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), Mumbai and Bengaluru.
"We have a very supportive and progressive government in Telengana who are supporting us in the process," Ikea India CEO Juvencio Maetzu had said in a statement.
"India is a very promising market for Ikea as it offers us the opportunity to source, retail, conduct CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiatives through Ikea Foundation and empower social entrepreneurs through next generation projects. Our focus now is to bring all of it together in Hyderabad as we have bought our first land to build an Ikea store," Maeztu said.
Earlier, the company said that 50 per cent of managers and workers recruited for the store would be women.
- business@khaleejtimes.com