Decision on IKEA proposal: CCEA meeting postponed

The meeting of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, which was scheduled to consider the Rs 10,500 crore proposal of Swedish furniture major IKEA, did not take place today due to paucity of time.

"It was on the agenda of the CCEA but CCEA could not meet today because of lack of time, the Cabinet took nearly two hours and then we have the CCS...I think the CCEA meeting will be fixed now...May be tomorrow, may be early next week," Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters here.

In its application, IKEA had proposed to invest the amount for setting up 10 furnishing and homeware stores as well as allied infrastructure over 10 years in India. Subsequently, it plans to open 15 more stores.

Earlier in January, Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) had cleared the investment plan of the firm to open single-brand retail stores in the country.

FIPB can clear foreign investment proposals worth up to Rs 1,200 crore. As IKEA's planned investment is higher than this, the proposal has to be cleared by the Cabinet.

IKEA's would be the largest investment in the single-brand retailing ever since the government allowed foreign investment in this sector. The company has been sourcing many products from India for the past 25 years.