JOIN USSwedish furniture major IKEA has broken ground for its first-ever store in India at the IT hub here on Thursday.
The four lakh sq feet facility will also feature a 1,000-seater restaurant that will serve Indian and Swedish cuisines.
The store will have 7,500 furnishing products on display, a children’s play area and a daycare centre for employees’ children, and a massive parking facility.
“The project, which is going to cost Rs 700 crore, will be ready by 2017, and will provide employment to 2,000 workers,” said Juvencio Maeztu, CEO of IKEA India.
He further added that IKEA will be opening around 25 stores in nine cities by 2025, indicating multi-store locations in selected cities. The cities will be Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune and Surat.
“First in the line after Hyderabad will be Navi-Mumbai where we have already purchased land. Talks are in progress in Bengaluru and the next will be Delhi-NCR,” Maeztu said unveiling IKEA’s plans.
Reacting to a question on GST and its impact on IKEA, Juvencio said that the GST will improve the flow of goods in the country. “This will increase efficiency of companies thereby offering lower prices to consumers,” he said. IKEA at present is making 300 million products, and will be doubling the number within four years
IKEA, which has been sourcing from India for its global stores, currently has 50 suppliers with 45,000 direct employees in the extended supply chain. “We procure €350 million worth goods from these suppliers. Most of the material that we source from India includes textiles and rugs,” said Christine Batemyr, Purchase operation manager, South Asia. She said that IKEA will be doubling its sourcing from India by 2025. At present, IKEA sources its materials from 28 countries across the world.