IKEA IS COMING TO NOIDA!
A well-known furniture giant in the world, IKEA, has its eyes set on Noida recently to open an outlet soon. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Uttar Pradesh government and the Swedish furniture retailer, IKEA, in the last week of December 2018 to invest over Rs 5,000 crore. This investment aims to set up an ‘integrated commercial project’ and open multiple stores in the state.
The furniture giant’s first store in India was opened in Hyderabad very recently in August 2018 and its second store will be opened in Mumbai in 2019. It will then be the turn of Bengaluru, followed by Delhi-NCR. In the second week of December 2018, Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Anup Chandra Pandey had appointed Special Secretary (Industrial Development) Ankit Agarwal to collaborate with IKEA. He was also to ensure that the furniture giant provides all the details related to the investment that it has proposed at the earliest time possible so that a plan could be made regarding the same.

The plans for investment in UP include setting up of large and small format stores. This kind of investment is a huge perk in the job market as it is expected to create over 8,000 job opportunities in the state, which would be both direct and indirect, said IKEA in a statement. This means that basically it would provide 4,000 jobs directly and employ another 4,000 indirectly in several ways. “We intend to set up a mix of large and smaller city center format stores complimented by e-commerce in the state over time,” IKEA India CEO Peter Betzel had said in a statement.

IKEA considers Uttar Pradesh as an important market and it is “in dialogue with the present government to facilitate our expansion plans in the state,” the statement by IKEA had said. The furniture giant has been looking for land in Noida for a large format store and it plans to expand to at least 40 cities in India by 2030. Betzel had said in an interview last month that the immediate plan is to set up a large format IKEA store in Noida and they have been scouting for land for it. The store will have an estimated investment of Rs 1,000 crore which will employ around 1,000 workers directly and 1,000 indirectly across the value chain.

The company also explained the reasons and the need for setting up large and small format stores. Since an average IKEA store is usually around 400,000 square feet, it is very difficult to find such a large space in a city and therefore, the company intends to create smaller stores for convenience, which could be either standalone or also inside malls. IKEA clearly has long term plans for the state of Uttar Pradesh and they have made it clear as well with IKA officials stating in interviews that the company plans to develop retail and commercial parks. These will essentially include shopping centers, offices and integrated commercial projects. These could be either owned by an IKEA company or independent developers.

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FAQ
Q: Are Ikea Furniture and Home Decor Items Available On Online Shopping?
A: Yes, Click here to shop from Amazon
Q: When did IKEA launch in India?
A: IKEA in Hyderabad was the first store in India which launched on August 8th and they also have a corporate office in Gurgaon - Ikea Trading (India) Private Limited Dlf Infinity Tower-A,8th Floor,Dlf Cyber City,Sector 25, Gurgaon-122002.