IKEA Group acquires first land parcel in Bengaluru

The 14 acres site in Bengaluru is strategically located in Nagasandra on Tumkur road and has been acquired from the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation. 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 store will be connected to the Nagasandra metro station to offer for easy access as well as a sustainable commute for the customers to the store. Besides creating many new job opportunities, IKEA’s entry will also have a positive impact on the GDP, infrastructure and local communities, while providing a unique home furnishings destination for the many people in Bengaluru.

Honourable Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said “We are very happy that we will soon see an IKEA store in Bengaluru. IKEA will bring best business practices, many employment opportunities, infrastructure development and contribute to the growth of the retail sector in the state. We believe that IKEA will work as a catalyst in our development plans. The government is committed to providing the necessary support to IKEA for its future expansion plans in the state.”

Chief Executive Officer, IKEA India, Juvencio Maeztu said, “This is a special day. 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. Our first Indian sofa supplier is from Karnataka supplying to our global stores. Each IKEA store will employ 500-700 coworkers directly and another 1500 people indirectly in different services. We are committed to inclusion and diversity and having 50% women in our organization at all levels is non-negotiable.”

“We thank the Karnataka government and officials who have been very progressive and supportive. IKEA promises to bring a unique shopping experience through our inspiring stores offering good quality affordable home furnishing products for the many people in Bengaluru.”, he added.

This step is yet another confirmation of IKEA’s long term plans in India. The company in parallel is evaluating suitable sites in the cities of Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi & NCR, Chennai and Pune and plans to open 25 stores in India by 2025.

About IKEA:

The IKEA vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people and we offer well designed, functional and affordable, high-quality home furnishing, produced with care for people and the environment. There are currently 390 IKEA stores in 46 countries with a sales volume of 34.2 billion euros. 783 million customers visited IKEA stores in FY16 and more than 2.1 billion people visited IKEA online. Our 163,600 co-workers from all over the world are the inner strength of IKEA, sharing fundamental humanistic values of togetherness, humbleness, simplicity, cost-consciousness and common sense.

IKEA has been sourcing from India for 30 years for its global stores. In India, it currently has 50 suppliers with 45,000 direct employees and 400,000 people in the extended supply chain. The IKEA Group is the first major single brand retailer to get FDI approval and plans to open several stores across the main metro cities in India.