Swedish furniture retailer Ikea has opened its new distribution facility in Pune, Maharashtra, India, with an investment of Rs1bn ($15.5m).
The new 230,000ft² facility will be used by the company to serve its new store in the city of Hyderabad, which is slated to open later this year, as well as its second store in Mumbai that is scheduled to open next year.
Ikea India is reported to have been scouting for additional sites in Maharashtra for building more regional facilities with a Rs7.5bn ($116m) investment.
The Swedish retailer is also said to have purchased land in other parts of India including Bengaluru and Gurgaon for opening more retail outlets in the region.
Ikea India distribution operations manager Bimal Patel was quoted by Press Trust of India as saying: “We have opened a 230,000ft² distribution centre in Pune, on leased land and have pumped in Rs1bn ($15.5m) into this. We will expand this to 370,000ft² by next year.
“We are also scouting for more land in Maharashtra to build our own warehousing facilities over the next two to three years, and have earmarked an outlay of Rs7.5bn ($116m) for this.
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By GlobalData“We have hired about 100 people and 50% of them are women. We are looking to hire another 200 people once our distribution operations are running in full steam.”
Patel further explained that it will be hiring approximately 700 staff members for each distribution unit in the country.
By 2025, Ikea India is planning to open 25 stores across the country with an investment of Rs105bn ($1.6bn).