IKEA's retail operator to invest 500 mn euros to open city centre in Noida

Ingka Centres, part of IKEA’S retail operator Ingka Group, on Tuesday said it will invest another €500 million in Noida as it plans to develop its next meeting place.

“The planned investment so far is around €500 million (in the Noida meeting place project). It’s a large project that will be finalised. The decision will hopefully be taken within six months,” Jan Kristensson, global expansion and development director at Ingka Centres, told Business Standard in an interview.

On Tuesday, the company marked the start of the main construction work on its IKEA anchored meeting place in Gurugram. The investment in the Gurugram meeting place is about €400 million (Rs 3,500 crore). The IKEA store will be spread across 250,000 square (sq.) feet (ft).

This takes Ingka Centres’ total investments in both centres to €900 million. The total building area of the Gurugram new meeting place will be around 1,700,000 sq. ft over nine floors and is slated to open in late 2025. The Gurugram meeting place will offer a mix of food and beverage and edutainment learning spaces, alongside a wide retail offer anchored by IKEA.

Besides, it will also offer a combination of global and local brands.  In addition to the retail space, the Gurugram meeting place will have 320,000 sq. ft of office space with a direct connection to the food and entertainment offer.

It expects an annual footfall of 20 million customers, Ingka Centres said in its release. While the company has no immediate plans to open other meeting places, it is still scouting for locations.

“We have no immediate plans, but we will see if we can find similar locations or other locations where we can support the store,” said Kristensson, adding, “We will not do any development without an IKEA store. In this case, it is a standard IKEA store, but it can also be in other formats in other locations.”

In India, IKEA has opened smaller stores within city limits as it aims to be closer to the customer. At its Gurugram meeting place, the company is yet to decide if it will lease space out or sell it.

“All investments we are making do not require us to divest. We divest only in some markets,” said Kristensson.

Cindy Andersen, managing director, Ingka Centres, said in a release, “August 16 marks the start of an exciting journey for us in India as we accelerate our strategy to get closer to where the many people live. Together with IKEA and the local community, we are looking forward to bringing to life a new vibrant destination where people can work, play, meet, shop, and spend time together in a more sustainable way which contributes to the further growth of this dynamic area.”  

IKEA has five stores across the country, of which, three are its big-box stores based in Hyderabad, Navi Mumbai, and Bengaluru and two city stores in Mumbai. Ingka Centres has 45 meeting places globally and the Gurugram meeting place will be the first one in India.