IKEA, the Swedish furniture company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Uttar Pradesh government to set up an ‘integrated commercial project’ and open store in the state. The global furniture leader will invest 5,000 crore rupees in the state and is expected to create 5,000 direct and indirect jobs. The first store of the company for the state will open in Noida. “The immediate plan is to set up a large format Ikea store in Noida where we are exploring the opportunity for suitable land purchase,” said Peter Betzel, CEO at IKEA India. “The store will have an estimated investment of Rs 1,000 crore. It will employ around 1,000 co-workers directly and another 1,000 indirectly across the value chain,” he added. The long-term plan of the company includes opening city centre stores with e-commerce facilities.
The MoU was signed in the presence of UP CM Yogi Adityanath and IKEA’s country property manager David McCausland. “Industrial institutions interested in large investments are setting up their establishments. According to the policies of the state government, any person or institution can invest in the state. The state government will provide all possible assistance to such investors and industrial institutions,” said UP CM Yogi Adityanath. IKEA is the world’s largest ready to assemble furniture retailer and one of the oldest furniture companies. The company has decided to open 25 stores across the country by 2025. The company got the permission to invest 10,500 crore rupees in 2013 and opened its first store in Hyderabad in August this year. The company has already purchased land in the range of 10-23 acres to open large format stores in cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Gurgaon. The company typically invests around 1,000 crores per store.
Since Yogi Government assumed power, the economy of Uttar Pradesh is expanding at a rapid pace. Noida is on the way to become a manufacturing hub in the country. Recently, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics set up the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturing facility in Noida with an investment worth Rs 4,915 crore. Chinese smartphone giant, Vivo is also all set to establish its second manufacturing facility in India with an investment of Rs 4,000 crore in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
The Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh is also working to increase connectivity in the state; it has planned an ambitious 354-km, 8-lane Purvanchal Expressway, linking Lucknow to Ghazipur for which foundation stone was laid by PM Modi on July, 14 in Azamgarh. Agra and Delhi are connected through the 205-km long Yamuna Expressway. Therefore, the Purvanchal Expressway will serve as the link between Delhi and the easternmost border of UP. After the completion of this project, the whole of Uttar Pradesh can be crisscrossed in 10 hours.
The economy of Uttar Pradesh has not grown at a good pace in recent decades due to inefficient administration of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party. The neighboring states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh registered double-digit growth in the last decade given the good governances provided by NDA governments. UP has more potential than these states but still, it has grown at a slower pace.