The furniture retailer is looking at the next round of investment in India after exhausting its commitment of Rs 10,500 crore
New Delhi: Swedish furniture retailer IKEA and Ingka Group CEO Jesper Brodin was in the national capital to look at the company’s upcoming projects in the Delhi-NCR region, as per a social media post by a company official.
“Thank you for inspiring us these two days Jesper Brodin, looking at our upcoming projects in Delhi NCR, meeting our lovely co-workers and discussing how we can shape future opportunities together for IKEA in India,” said Susanne Pulverer, CEO & CSO, IKEA India in her LinkedIn post.
“We also had the pleasure to meet the Hon’ble Swedish Ambassador to India Jan Thesleff and Team Sweden. Someone asked me if I had to ask for one thing Jesper, what would it be, and I said, “Come more often to India!” You are a truly inspirational leader for us all,” added Pulverer.
Ingka, the parent company of global furniture chain IKEA plans to launch Ingka centres in India under the brand name Lykli. These centres or meeting places as IKEA refers to them will have IKEA as the anchor and other retail brands. The first such centre is coming up in the Delhi-NCR region which is scheduled to open in the New Delhi suburbs of Gurugram in 2025.
Ingka Centres is the commercial real estate arm of Ingka Group, the Swedish giant that runs the Ikea furniture chain globally and it will be the newest entrant in the Indian shopping centre industry. Anticipated to surge at an annual growth rate of 29%, the retail sales within the shopping malls of the top eight cities are poised to reach an impressive $39 billion by 2027.
Lykli (which means happy in Swedish), will house dining and entertainment options along with a diverse selection of local and global retail brands.
Ikea, which currently operates stores in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Bengaluru is investing around Rs 7,000 crore to enter the National Capital Region with two stores in Gurugram and Noida, Indiaretailing had earlier reported. The furniture retailer is looking at the next round of investment in India after exhausting its commitment of Rs 10,500 crore when it entered the country 10 years back.
The company, which kicked off its retail operations in India with the opening of its first store in Hyderabad in August 2018, is currently setting up projects in Delhi-NCR that are expected to open in 2025 and will complete its committed investment for 10 years.
In 2013, the government approved a Rs 10,500 crore FDI proposal by Ikea to set up 10 stores with allied infrastructure in 10 years. Subsequently, it had plans to open 15 more stores.
Presently Ikea is getting one-fourth of its sales in India from online platforms from its channels such as its app, and e-commerce portal. It also introduced Shop By Phone assistance service and increased doorstep delivery facility in 62 new markets in India.
According to RoC filings, Ikea India sales were up 61% to Rs 1,768 crore for the financial year which ended on March 31, 2023. However, its loss was at Rs 1,134 crore, on account of expansion in new markets and investments in infrastructure.
(With inputs from PTI)
