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Swedish furniture giant IKEA’s plans to launch a store in Gurgaon has been delayed as it has revised the overall project to include a shopping centre. Consequently, it has dropped the plan to purchase a 20-acre land adjacent to its existing 10-acre land parcel in Gurgaon it had won in 2017 to build the store. Instead, IKEA will now acquire additional building and full development rights in Gurgaon to include both an IKEA Store and a Shopping Centre.
IKEA had initially spent ₹842 crore to win the bid for the said land from Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA). “The project has, since its conception, been expanded to include new scope – from a large format IKEA Store to Ingka Centres (Ingka arm that establishes shopping centres globally), with the IKEA Store being the anchor,” said IKEA in response to a query from BusinessLine . Ingka is the parent company of IKEA.
In February, on the sidelines of a retail sector event in Mumbai, Peter Betzel, Managing Director, IKEA, had told BusinessLine that IKEA had plans to open up at least two Ingka centres in India. Currently, Ignka has centres in at least 15 countries and 45 locations with housing over 1,600 brands and IKEA as its anchor.
In India, IKEA plans to invest ₹5,000 crore for the Gurgaon project, and it is one of the largest projects for the furniture giant.
In 2018, IKEA had approached HUDA for a 20-acre land adjacent to the said land, and HUDA had asked IKEA to submit a written application for the same. However, sources said that it is facing issues in gaining developmental rights,and thus, it has been delayed.
There are too many takers for this land. Now with one of the metro stations to be adjacent for the said land, the demand for it is higher, thus, making it difficult for IKEA, hence, IKEA is in a fix.”
“We are in good discussions with the government,” an IKEA spokesperson said adding, that the reason for the prolonged timeline is the ongoing efforts to acquire additional building / full development rights to include both an IKEA Store and a Shopping Centre. “With the opportunity to acquire additional building rights on our existing site, we have decided to avail of this option instead of acquiring new land.”
IKEA had plans to inaugurate the standalone store by 2019. With trying to acquire full development rights, “This naturally means that timelines would be revised. We are progressing well according to the larger scope of the overall development.” IKEA did not give a timeline for the launch date.
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