Swedish furniture maker IKEA (Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd) is planning to open its first store in Bengaluru, according to officials of the Commerce and Industries Department. Sources said this development comes after a meeting between Managing Director of IKEA India Peter Betzel, and Lockheed Martin Vice President and Chief Executive of India William Blair. on Thursday.
“IKEA had internal discussions about opening more than one centre in Bengaluru. They are yet to make a decision on this and this was discussed with the CM on Thursday,” a top official in the Commerce and Industries Department told TNM.
As of now, IKEA has a store in Hyderabad and they are also in talks to launch a store in Navi Mumbai.
Earlier, IKEA had said that they will invest Rs 1,000 crore for the store and this will lead to direct employment of 800 employees and another 1,500 indirect employees are also likely to benefit. As reported earlier, the shop will be of around 4,00,000 sq ft area and will come in Nagasandra behind the Metro Station.
The Hyderabad store is also of the same size.
The source in the Commerce and Industries Ministry told TNM that the two executives paid a courtesy call to the CM and discussed certain issues with him regarding the expansion of their companies’ operations in Karnataka.
The source said that the Lockheed Martin Executive discussed with the CM the possibilities of expanding their manufacturing activities in Karnataka. “They know the Karnataka aerospace ecosystem and are looking to expand their operations in Karnataka. This was a courtesy call and more will be decided in a future meeting,” the official said.
Lockheed Martin, a global leader in the aerospace sector and defence, is making F-16 Block 70 fighter jets in India along with Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL).