The company targets to invest about Rs 500 crore in each of these proposed stores.
After opening its first store in the country in Hyderabad, international furniture and home accessories company IKEA is all set to invest in Uttar Pradesh and is looking for lands for a store in Noida, the company is in talks with the government and is proposing to invest more than Rs 5,000 crore in the state in the coming years through retail outlets and e-commerce.
IKEA had signed an MoU with the Samajwadi Party government in 2015 to set up a store each in Lucknow, Agra and Noida with an investment of approximately Rs 500 crore in each. The MOU facilitated time-bound and easy rollout of the company’s business plans in UP through a single-window system mechanism
Sources in IKEA said that since entering the market, their plans had been evolving according to the market situation and at present, the company was focussing on setting up an outlet in Noida only.
IKEA already has a partnership with rural-based women in Varanasi for selling their products at its stores. IKEA Foundation runs several social sector projects in association with the state carpet manufacturers.
Earlier, IKEA had set up an automatic loom in the carpet belt of Bhadohi, near Varanasi for boosting productivity and improving the work conditions in the carpet manufacturing units.
For ensuring maximum benefit, Ikea has chosen not to file for its patent, a company official informed. In fact, Ikea has been sourcing products manufactured in India for the past 28 years to showcase at its stores
IKEA India CEO Peter Betzel stated that the company was in dialogue with the UP government to facilitate its entry into the state. “Our proposed investment is more than Rs 5,000 crore in the state over the coming years. There will be employment for more than 4,000 co-workers directly and 4,000 jobs indirectly,” he said.
Betzel added that the company was looking to set up a mix of large and small city centre format stores across the state, which would be accompanied by an e-commerce platform in the coming months.
“The immediate plan is to set up a large format IKEA store in Noida where we are scouting for suitable land. The store will have an estimated investment of Rs 1,000 crore. It will employ around 1,000 co-workers directly and another 1,000 indirectly across the value chain,” Betzel said.
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