Swedish furniture retailer IKEA has acquired land in Bengaluru from the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation for an undisclosed sum as part of its plans to start retail operations in India.
The 14 acres site in Bengaluru is the third land acquisition by the home furnishing retailer after Hyderabad and Mumbai. IKEA is slated to open its first store in India in Hyderabad early next year.
“The IKEA store in Bengaluru is planned to be around 4.5 lakh square feet and is expected to have more than 5 million visitors per year,” the company said in a statement.
Commenting on the development, IKEA India CEO Juvencio Maeztu said:” Karnataka is a highly strategic and important market for IKEA. Along with retail stores, IKEA’s Purchasing team will also grow local sourcing and engage with local artisan and communities in many projects.”
“Each IKEA store will employ 500-700 co-workers directly and another 1,500 people indirectly in different services. We are committed to inclusion and diversity and having 50 per cent women in our organisation at all levels is non- negotiable,” he said.
IKEA, which received government approval in 2013 for its Rs 10,500 crore proposal to open retail stores under 100 per cent FDI, plans to open 25 stores by 2025 in nine Indian cities.
“The company in parallel is evaluating suitable sites in the cities,” the company said.
IKEA’s first store in Hyderabad will be a massive 4 lakh square feet in size and will include all features of a global IKEA store, including restaurant and play and development area.
In July 2015, IKEA had announced purchase of 13 acre land close to the IT hub in Hyderabad’s HITEC city and bought land in Mumbai in March last year.
Presently, IKEA operates 390 stores in 46 countries with a sales volume of 34.2 billion euros.
