Ikea ready to invest more than Rs 10,500 crore in India | Economic Times

NEW DELHI: Swedish furniture giant Ikea is ready to invest more than the Rs 10,500 crore it has already earmarked for the domestic market, as it considers India to be a priority market globally.On the eve of opening its second brick-and-mortar store in the country in Navi Mumbai, Peter Betzel, CEO at Ikea India, said, India is set to become one of the fastest-growing markets for the world’s largest furniture retailers. “If we need more investments in the future and continue to be successful in India where we are committed, we can extend the investments whenever needed,” Peter Betzel, MD at Ikea India told TOI. “This wonderful country of 1.3 billion people is one of the priority markets for Ikea and we are in an early stage in India. India is an emerging country but it is also one of the fastest-growing economies,” he said. Ikea’s new store is its first big format store in Maharashtra, spanning over 5.3 lakh sq ft and situated near the Turbhe local railway station. It opened its first retail store in Hyderabad in August 2018, followed by online stores in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune.It will open two smaller format stores in Mumbai in 2021 and is set to start work on its upcoming store in North India in Noida, which will be store-cum-commercial project.“We have a fulfilment centre in Pune and those will also come up in Bengaluru and Delhi,” said Betzel. The retailer, which has partnered with the government to facilitate India’s goal to become a global furniture manufacturing hub, recently slashed prices by around 30% across its portfolio to make its products more accessible to Indian consumers.