Swedish retailer brand IKEA intends to open its first shopping centre in India after the ready-to-assemble furniture company announced it had bought a 48,000 square meter plot in the city of Noida on the outlying district of Delhi.
IKEA opened its first store in India in 2018 in Hyderabad and just recently one in Navi Mumbai in 2020. It said it would develop the new site into a mall anchored by an IKEA store.
Ingka Centres, which has 45 IKEA store-anchored malls in Europe, Russia and China is attempting to enter the United States in 2021, said it planned to invest almost 55 billion rupees ($759 million) in the Noida project.
More detailed plans for the project will be provided in the near future, it said in an emailed statement.
Ingka Centres plans to penetrate around 45 large cities across its existing markets and the United States in upcoming years.
It said in October visitors had returned quickly to its malls after the lifting of restrictions due to COVID-19 that had forced stores and malls to close.
Ingka Centres is owned by Ingka Group which also owns most IKEA stores worldwide.
The furniture, kitchen appliances and home accessories retailer has, until now, invested Rs 7,000 crore in the country opening two stores and several fulfillment centers.
The 5.3 lakh square feet Mumbai store supplies the largest shopping division for children that the retailer has in the world—due to its success that the category saw at its first store in Hyderabad launched in 2018. The Mumbai, store, over two floors, will also have a 1,000-seater restaurant serving both Indian and Swedish cuisines.