IKEA starts construction of ₹1,000 cr store in Bengaluru

Barely two months after opening its first store in Hyderabad, IKEA the Swedish home furnishings major recently launched the construction of its 50,00,000 sq.ft store entailing an investment of ₹1,000 crore at Nagasandra in Bengaluru. Connected to the Nagasandra Metro station, the IKEA’s third store in India will have a parking space for 2,000 vehicles, a 1,000-seater restaurant serving Swedish and Indian food, a children’s play area called Smaland and around 7,500 products to choose from. According to Peter Betzel, CEO, IKEA India, Karnataka is a priority market and IKEA India will invest ₹2,000 crore plus in the long-term basis and that Bengaluru is a special city for the company and its active participation from total value chain including IKEA Foundation, IKEA suppliers, IKEA social entrepreneurs and now IKEA retail. The new stores will have solar panels, LED lights, rain water harvesting, water treatment plants, modern waste management systems with plans to use electric vehicles for deliveries and transportation of its employees and it also plans to increase local sourcing from 20% at present to 50% in future. It may be recalled that IKEA is one of the first major single brand retailers to get FDI approval of ₹10,500 crore to establish a multi-channel presence in 49 cities pan India by 2030 with small format stores and large format stores