• IKEA India operations to create 500 direct and1500 indirect jobs in each store
• IKEA to source more from India for the India and Global IKEA stores

NewZNew (Chandigarh) : IKEA India store has moved a step closer to reality in India with its ground-breaking ceremony in Hyderabad today. The ground breaking took place in Hyderabad in the presence of various dignitaries including Honorable Deputy Chief Minister, Mr. Mohammad Mahmood Ali, Chief Secretary to Telangana Government, Mr. Rajiv Sharma, Mayor of Hyderabad, Mr. Bonthu Rammohan, Head of Section for Trade, Economic and Cultural Affairs from Swedish Embassy, Ms. Josa Kärre, and many other distinguished guests from various state departments, IKEA suppliers, business partners and IKEA co-workers.

The IKEA store is planned to open in Autumn of 2017, giving access to affordable, good quality home furnishing products. IKEA will hire 500 direct co-workers and another 1500 engaged in providing services around the store. The store will be about 400,000 sq. ft. large and will host more than 5-6 million customers every year. The store will feature nearly 7500 well designed, beautiful home furnishing products, a supervised children’s play area for visitors, day care center for its co-worker’s children, 2000 parking spaces and a 1000 seat restaurant serving Swedish as well as Indian dishes.

To support the strong people agenda, IKEA Foundation in cooperation with UNDP, Xynteo and other partners yesterday launched the Hyderabad chapter of DISHA- the skill building project with the commitment to train 1 million women from India in coming 10 years. IKEA will participate as a partner and will employ women from this program for its store operations.

Talking on the sidelines of the ground-breaking event, Juvencio Maeztu, Chief Executive Officer, IKEA India, said, “This is a big milestone for us today and all of us are very proud that the first IKEA store in India seems very close to reality now! India is a very important market for IKEA and with Hyderabad, we find a perfect match with cities’ young, dynamic demographics, culture, values and history. We hope to bring our unique home furnishing products and solutions and modern retail experience to the people of Hyderabad. We have committed to hire 50% women in our workforce and we look forward to a big participation from the society.”

The Chief Minister of Telangana State, K. Chandrashekar Rao, said, “I congratulate IKEA on the occasion of the first ground-breaking in India. We welcome IKEA to Hyderabad with the confidence that IKEA will have a very positive impact and contribute to the overall development of young Telangana. IKEA will bring in best business practices, innovations, employment opportunities and boost the manufacturing and retail sector, which will help attract other global brands to Telangana. We are extremely proud that a value driven company like IKEA is getting ready to begin its operations in our state and we will extend full cooperation to enable ease of doing businessevery day in our state.”

IKEA is committed to being people and planet positive and sustainability will be an integral part of business operations whether in the store or the supply chain. In Hyderabad, the store will engage with the local community by creating job opportunities and social entrepreneurs for Next Generation projects. The store will have solar panels, LED lights, water treatment plants and modern waste management systems. IKEA suppliers in India are today working with good social and environmental practices as part of our compliance code, making the lives of their co-workers better.