IKEA Starts Work on Navi Mumbai Store; To Open In January 2019

Mumbai: Global home furnishings retailer IKEA will open its second store in the country in Navi Mumbai in January 2019 with an investment of around Rs 1,000 crore, the company said today.

The store's ground-breaking ceremony took place at Turbhe in Navi Mumbai today in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

"The store is the result of the MoU signed earlier by IKEA and Government of Maharashtra as a major step towards establishing retail stores in the state. We will extend full cooperation to enable ease of doing business in the state," the chief minister said.

"IKEA furniture is devised for intelligent space management. There is a huge market for it here as Maharashtra has a target for affordable housing. We are going to build two million affordable houses," he said.

IKEA had earlier said that Maharashtra will be a key market and it plans to open 5-6 stores in the state going forward, and also to open a distribution centre in Pune.

The Navi Mumbai store will be spread across 4,30,000 square feet and is expected to employ 700 direct co-workers and another 1,500 for providing services including assembly, and delivery, the company indicated.

"We will make a positive footprint by creating employment, investing in skill development, growing local sourcing to meet demands in India and globally," IKEA India's Chief Executive Officer Juvencio Maeztu said.

The Swedish headquartered retailer plans to open 25 stores across the country by 2025.

It is set to open its first store in Hyderabad in early 2018.

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