Ingka Centres, part of the Ingka Group, has begun constructing its first Ikea-anchored retail destination in India with an investment of €400 million in Gurugram. Another shopping centre is also on the cards to be set up at Noida with an investment of about €500 million, company officials added.
Ingka Group’s businesses include Ikea Retail, Ingka Investments and Ingka Centres.
Long-term market
“India is a strategic long term market for us. We have been studying the Indian retail market for the past five years. We felt it was best to develop the mixed-land use format projects for profitable investments and to support the expansion of Ikea in the country,” Jan Kristensson, Global Expansion and Development Director, Ingka Centres, told BusinessLine.
The Gurugram centre will offer food and beverage options, edutainment learning spaces, high-class office spaces alongside wide retail offerings anchored by Ikea besides other local and global brands. It is slated to open in late 2025 with expectations of annual footfalls of 20 million.
“We expect plans for the Noida centre to get finalised in the next six months. So we will be focusing on building these two major projects and getting them right. Our ambition is to grow and at some point, we will look at other opportunities in the market. And it does not always need to be large investments like this. In other markets in the world, we have also developed smaller projects as long as it fits with the Ikea design,” he said.
Currently, Ikea operates five stores in the country, which are a mix of big-format stores and city centre stores, in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Mumbai.
Expansion plans
“While these big-format stores are getting developed in Gurugram and Noida, we will also look at opportunities to bring our other store formats to the Delhi-NCR region. Together with Ingka Centres, we will become a strong contributor to increase the overall home furnishing market in the region,” said Susanne Pulverer, CEO and CSO, Ikea India.
She pointed out that the company’s stores in the country are seeing strong resurgence in footfalls in recent times while adding that the company continues to focus on building a “strong omni-channel” presence in the country.
Ingka Centres currently operate 45 shopping centres in 15 markets across the globe.