Old furniture collected from Indian consumers in exchange for new ones will not be re-sold in the market, Swedish retail major IKEA has informed the government.
The company, which plans to invest Rs 10,500 crore to set up 25 single brand retail stores in the country, in its final application has said that the facility of collection/purchase of old furniture is for the convenience of only those customers who no longer need their old furniture.
“It is clarified that no old furniture/products collected will be sold from the IKEA retail stores or sold by IKEA Group for profits,” it said.
It said that the old items collected or purchased by the company are either donated to needy families through charitable organisations or donated to third party small businesses on an “as is where is” basis.
“The third parties can repair and add value and sell such furniture in the market by themselves and keep the earnings for themselves,” it added.
The Scandinavian firm said that if the old products are totally unusable, they would be disassembled and recycled with the lowest environmental impact.
IKEA’s clarification was on a government’s query on the nature and intent of activities involving collection or purchase of old furniture.
Further, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, has not yet approved the application.
DIPP, which is under the Commerce and Industry Ministry, deals with foreign direct investment related matters.
A senior official said that the department is examining the application and would soon send it to the Foreign Investment promotion Board.
FIPB, under the Finance Ministry, will give the final approval to IKEA’s application.