Swedish company IKEA set to enter India with Rs 3,000 crore investment

[India defense]

Swedish furniture and home accessories company IKEA has decided to enter India with an over Rs 3,000 crore ($600 million) investment in a single-brand retail venture.

Sources in the commerce and industry ministry said that the company has already sought government permission to set up a 100% Indian venture and has also promised to increase its sourcing from the country to $1 billion from around $600 million at present.

The decision to invest was communicated by IKEA CEO & President M Ohlsson during a meeting with commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma in St. Petersburg on Friday.
A formal announcement is expected in a few hours.


IKEA joins Pavers London in a small list of companies that have so far opted to set up a wholly-owned single brand venture. Earlier, only 51% FDI was permitted in this segment. In these stores companies are permitted to stock goods from one brand only. The entry also comes with the stipulation that at least 30% of the products have to be sourced from Indian micro, small and medium enterprises - a major area of concern for IKEA until recently.

In fact, IKEA was expected to be among the first entrants but the sourcing clause delayed its announcement. Sharma's team is trying hard to dilute the sourcing requirement and mandate that the procurement can be done from any Indian company, not necessarily from a small unit.

The news from IKEA is sure to boost investor sentiment at a time when global players are wary of India in the wake of policy flip flops in recent months. The government, however, contests that.

After his meeting with Ohlson, Sharma is learnt to have said: "Despite the problems in the global economy and recent lowering of the rating outlook investor confidence in India remains robust."

Swedish company IKEA set to enter India with Rs 3,000 crore investment - The Times of India

 

[KRAIT]

India is still a good zone for investment.

 

[ashok321]

Top 3 IKEA Pranks of All Time | ZUG

 

[India defense]

Once Ikea comes to India ....nobody will buy Malaysian and Chinese furniture anymore

 

[somebozo]

Once Ikea comes to India ....nobody will buy Malaysian and Chinese furniture anymore

IKEA - over priced Chinese goods.

Most of the stuff they sell can be bought on Ali Baba..heck a friend of mine has made a business model around he..He gets the latest IKEA catalog, search on AliBaba, make a trip to China and bring containers full of goods.

over 80% of the goods sold in IKEA are made in China!

 

[notsuperstitious]

IKEA - over priced Chinese goods.

Most of the stuff they sell can be bought on Ali Baba..heck a friend of mine has made a business model around he..He gets the latest IKEA catalog, search on AliBaba, make a trip to China and bring containers full of goods.

over 80% of the goods sold in IKEA are made in China!

Chinese ripoffs is a model across all manufactured goods, no need to trash Ikea because chinese have no business ethics.

 

[harpoon]

Good..Furnitures in India are getting damn expensive (atleast in my place) mainly bcs the lack of availability of wood. Hope IKEA give a cheaper alternative.

 

[Imran Khan]

IKEA ? go to hell a cup cost 5$ no thanks i can buy 5 cups in 1$ from market

 

[El Weirdo]

Hiya.. dont know where to begin with , the low quality IKEA goods , which I have used myself , or the companies Nazi policy , where top executives call all foreigners as Niggers -

Sharing a link down below.. have a read and look at it.. Im no Anti-progress , specially now when the country is going through huge turmoil...

Do we need 1 Billion investment in order for IKEA to make Billions out of it who are down right racists including Kampard the company head and his son who is a ultra nazi ???


Ikea's heart of darkness: A tale of racism, lies and Swedish meatballs


Ikea looks like a model of openness and visibility. From its voluminous warehouse-size stores to its furniture's clean lines, the retailer presents a vision of honesty and total disclosure. Even founder and President Ingvar Kamprad seems to be an open book: a simple farmer's boy from rural Sweden who overcame dyslexia and alcoholism to become one of the world's wealthiest men. Yet, even as he's risen to the top of the business world, he still has an old Klippan sofa and a Billy bookshelf in his living room, showing that he remains a humble, salt-of-the-earth type who hasn't forgotten his roots.

Not according to Johan Stenebo. Kamprad's former personal assistant, Stenebo reveals in a new book published in Sweden that the budget-furnishings monolith seems to have quite a few sordid secrets. The Truth About Ikea has yet to be translated into English, yet it's already sent ripples through the media, as Ikea fans learn that all may not be sunshine and meatballs at their favorite cheap, simple, eco-friendly big-box home-furnishings store.

A Deep Vein of Racism

Stenebo's position has given him amazing access to Kamprad, but he's not the first to question the furniture tycoon's morality. A journalist in 1994 threatened to expose Kamprad's adolescent membership in Nazi youth organizations. Kamprad addressed the matter publicly, apologizing to his Jewish employees and dismissing this revelation as a brief and foolish flirtation with Nazism. But it appears he may have been raising funds and recruiting members as late as September 1945, and he remained friends with a Swedish fascist politician through the 1950s.

And Kamprad's Nazi adventure may have been indicative of a deeper vein of racism. Stenebo says Ikea execs often refer to foreigners as "niggers" and deny them promotions. All of Ikea's top executives come from the same small region of Sweden as Kamprad, Stenebo alleges; he also characterizes Kamprad's heir apparent, Peter, as an "incompetent racist."

Environmental Concerns

What of Ikea's reputation as an eco-friendly retailer? In 1992, the company famously adopted an Environmental Action Plan that cut down on its use of environmentally damaging products and promoted recyclable and recycled materials. It has stopped giving customers plastic bags, increased its use of solar panels, and introduced other initiatives designed to cut its environmental footprint.Stenebo himself was managing director of Ikea's GreenTech division, which sells solar panels and other green goods. But he has his doubts about Ikea's green report card. Ikea buys most of its wood from China, where its suppliers are said to be responsibly sourcing their materials, but Stenebo says, "I know that even in China, you can't buy legal wood for the price that we paid there."



Oddly, Ikea's greatest mystery -- and its greatest potential scandal -- doesn't seem to be on Stenebo's radar. This year, Fortune ranked Kamprad the world's fifth richest man; weeks later, Reuters stated that Kamprad was actually the richest man in the world. On one level, this is just an academic argument: for most of us, the gap between Bill Gates's $46.6 billion and Kamprad's alleged $53 billion is really immaterial. But the confusion over whether Kamprad is the wealthiest or fifth wealthiest reveals that Ikea's finances are almost impenetrable. The company is owned and operated by Ingka Holding, a Dutch firm owned by a charitable trust called Stichting INGKA Foundation, which devotes its $1.7 billion in post-tax profits to "innovation in the field of architecture and interior design."

From any other charity, that's a highly admirable goal. From a charity funded by a store specializing in architecture and interior design, that mission lands a little too close to its corporate goals. And the charity's finances are more than a little murky; it's unclear how much of Stichting INGKA's funds make their way to Stichting IKEA, another charitable trust that actually funds interior-design work. And although Kamprad has ostensibly given up control of Ikea, he's chairman of the board of Stichting INGKA -- which means he actually still rules Ikea.

Virtuous -- on Paper

On paper, Ikea could hardly appear more virtuous: an eco-friendly company that gives all its money to a charitable trust. But if Kamprad is actually a canny, media-manipulating, racist ex-Nazi who produces low-quality furniture from questionable materials, running a company whose profits are funneled through a collection of shady Dutch charities that let it dodge taxes while claiming to fund design projects that ultimately become part of the company's research and development -- if all that is true, then Ikea may well be just another big corporation with a big collection of skeletons rattling around in its big closet.

Even if Stenebo's allegations are true, many critics will undoubtedly argue that they only show that Ikea is just like most other companies, for which the quest for lower costs and higher profits occasionally lead to some morally uncomfortable practices. In this regard, Ikea's greatest failing may be its inability to live up to its own hype.


Ikea's heart of darkness: A tale of racism, lies and Swedish meatballs - DailyFinance

 

[Zeeshan360]

100% FDI surely helped IKEA ..

Welcome to India !!
Only I need now is Walmart :|

 

[Zabaniyah]

3,000 crore? Holy cow!

 

[India defense]

IKEA ? go to hell a cup cost 5$ no thanks i can buy 5 cups in 1$ from market

Only from Dollar tree...

3,000 crore? Holy cow!

Who says Investment is not coming to India....if we allow Walmart today..they will open their store tomorrow...

 

[JAT BALWAN]

IKEA ? go to hell a cup cost 5$ no thanks i can buy 5 cups in 1$ from market

Imran bhai .. once they enter in the India market they`ll know the reasonable rate according to Indian market...

welcome move for Indian economy ... now more`ll know the crap side of S&P...

 

[KRAIT]

IKEA, world's largest furniture maker, to invest Rs 10,500 crore in India

NEW DELHI: Swedish furniture home accessories IKEA has decided to enter India with a Euros 1.5 billion (around Rs 10,500 crore) investment in a single-brand retail venture.

In the first phase it plans to set up 25 stores with an investment of Euros 600 million ( around Rs 4,200 crore) in opening 25 stores. Sources in the commerce and industry ministry said that the company has already sought government permission to set up a 100% Indian venture and has also promised to increase its sourcing from the country.

The decision to invest was communicated by IKEA CEO & President M Ohlsson during a meeting with commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma in St. Petersburg on Friday.

IKEA, world's largest furniture maker, to invest Rs 10,500 crore in India - The Times of India

P.S. - Zabaniya, how about herd of cows........

 

[IndoCarib]

Just what the doctor ordered. We need more FDI, and we need it now.