Ikea, the Swedish multinational home furnishing retailer, today opened its first India store in the IT hub of the Nizami city of Hyderabad.

The store was opened amidst cheerful Ikea management and staff with the ribbon cutting by a customer. It is located on a 13 acre site and spanning 4 lakh sq ft of built up space has stocked more than 7,500 items.

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Employees of IKEA greet customers during the inauguration of the company's first store in Hyderabad on Thursday, August 9, 2018.

 

The Ikea Group, which had taken approval to set up 25 stores in India with an outlay of Rs 10,500 crores, has thus far invested about Rs 4,500 crores and is considering seeking government nod to hike investm ents by presenting a new plan.

It has already acquired land at Navi Mumbai, Gurugram and Bengaluru and has begun work on the Mumbai property, which is expected to be ready by summer of 2019.

The retailer is considering setting up some smaller format stores in India not only in metros but other select cities in the country. Jesper Brodin, the Global CEO of Ikea, stated, "Ikea was keen on offering affordable products and efforts are on to cater to thinner wallets."

The store was formally opened to public in the presence of KT Rama Rao, Telangana Industries and IT Minister.