IKEA infuses Rs 850 crore in Indian unit amid expansion plans

Swedish furniture maker IKEA has infused Rs 850 crore in its Indian unit, showed financial data accessed by business intelligence platform Tofler. According to Tofler, Ingka Pro Holding BV and Ingka Holding Overseas BV, IKEA’s parent company and its controlled entities have bought 85 crore shares in Ikea India Private Limited for Rs 10 each.

“India is identified as a future growth market for Ingka group. The fund infusion received is part of the Rs 10,500 crores announced initially. This new infusion will support our omnichannel expansion plans in India to enable us to reach many more people in India for their life at home needs with our affordable and sustainable products,” an IKEA spokesperson said

The fund-raise from the parent company comes amidst IKEA's expansion in India as it looks to scale up its presence in the country. In December, IKEA had announced that would invest Rs 10,500 crore in the India operation, of which Rs 6,000 crore would go to Maharashtra.

“IKEA plans to invest Rs 10,500 crore in its India operations. With a planned investment of Rs 6,000 crore by 2030 in Maharashtra, IKEA aims to meet 25 million people in Maharashtra. IKEA will provide over 6,000 jobs, of which 50 percent will be for women,” the company said.

IKEA in December opened its first small-format city store in Mumbai, in a deviation of its strategy to open large store sprawling 300,000 to 400,000 sq ft.

“We are already working on a few more city stores in Mumbai and a city store in Bengaluru. We are actively looking at Delhi, and have bought two land parcels there for large-format stores and would like to find good locations for city stores as well. Now we have started to look at Tier-II cities as well. However, we are not sure in which order these stores will be opened since that depends on finding the right location,” Per Hornell, country expansion manager and area manager, IKEA India told Moneycontrol on the sidelines of Mumbai store launch.

Going ahead, too, the company will be launching a mix of small and large-format outlets across the country, along with city-centric e-commerce apps. It currently operates, two large-format stores in Navi Mumbai and Hyderabad and a city store in Mumbai. IKEA plans to soon launch city stores in Mumbai and Bengaluru and a large format store as well as small-format stores in Delhi. Its e-commerce platform is live in Mumbai, Hyderabad, and a few cities in Gujarat.