IKEA buys land in Hyderabad for first India store

IKEA Group, the leading Swedish home furnishings company, on Friday announced that it has purchased land in Hyderabad to build its first retail store in India.

The strategically-located, 13 acre site is close to HITEC City, the IT hub, is within easy access to public transport and next to an upcoming metro line, the company said in a statement.

It signed land purchase agreement with Telangana government. The size of the deal and other details of the agreement were not released.

The company is in parallel evaluating suitable sites in the cities of Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi and the National Capital Region to open 25 stores in the long term.

IKEA had last year signed an MoU with the Telangana government for opening the store.

According to a statement then released by the government, IKEA retail outlets have a standard design and each location entails an investment of $100 million (Rs.500-600 crore). Headquartered in Sweden, IKEA is one of the world's largest and recognisable international furniture, household goods and textiles retail company. It has been sourcing from India for the last 28 years and it plans to double its sourcing volumes in the country by 2020.

Around 45,000 people work directly for 50 IKEA suppliers in India and about 400,000 in the extended supply chain. IKEA has recently organized three "Make More in India" campaigns, including one in Telangana, to look for new suppliers, said the statement on Friday.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao said IKEA will bring best business practices, great employment opportunities and contribute to the overall development of the city. He assured all necessary support to IKEA for its future expansion plans in the state.

IKEA India CEO Juvencio Maeztu said, India was a very promising market for IKEA as it offers them the opportunity to source, retail, conduct CSR 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. We will bring a unique shopping experience through our inspiring stores offering affordable home furnishing products," he said.