Unveiling its Rs 400 crore investment plans for India, Lifestyle International on Thursday said new players like Ikea entering the furniture segment will only help the market grow further.

“On an average we will put in Rs 400 odd crore in the next three years as total investment,” Lifestyle MD Kabir Lumba told reporters on sidelines of India Retail Forum here.

On expansion plans, he said, “We are looking at 6-8 stores for Lifestyle, we are looking at about six stores for Home Centre in next 2-3 years.

“We have 14 stores for Home Centre. We are looking at 15-25 stores year for Max. For Bossini, we will be looking at 5-10 stores per year. Splash we will be taking the store count to 25 in 3-4 years time“.

Splash at present has about seven stores in the country.

The company will try to make the best use of the Landmark group’s synergies and was planning to introduce new format, he added.

“We have always looked for synergy. We leverage as much as possible. We are evaluating some of the formats like Baby shop. Those are very much on cards. We don’t have exact plans or the time frame,” he said.

When asked about the possible threat to Home Centre because of the entry of Swedish furniture retailer Ikea, he said, “Home Centre has more than 60-65 stores in middle east.

We compete and compliment very well. Strong brands like Ikea will add value to market“.

Market is at the nascent stage only and 3 or four more players coming will add zing to the market, he said. “For next 15-20 years we don’t have to worry about competing because the opportunity is that much,” he added.

“The formats are different they offer different kind of merchandise. I don’t think the pricing in India can be so low especially when you are importing merchandise because of import duty. I don’t think any brand is changing its position specifically for India. I doubt if Ikea will also do that,” he added.

The Swedish home dr firm, the world’s largest furniture maker, in June announced 1.5 billion euros (Rs 10,500 crore) investment in India, soon after the government announced 100 per cent FDI in single brand retail.

He further said the company expects to maintain a growth of 25 per cent but is cautiously optimistic about the prospects of Indian retail.

“Last quarter has been fairly encouraging. We have seen early signs of recovery but it is still early. We continue to remain cautiously optimistic. We think the festive season should be good.

“The government has announced some good but how much of an impact will be on actual shopping... We are looking to maintain a healthy growth rate of 20-25 per cent,” he said.

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