Swedish home furniture giant IKEA is in talks with the textile ministry for becoming a larger retail option for Indian handicraft.
The move comes after it decided to put on hold its India strategy till the foreign direct investment policy in single-brand retail gets notified. Sources said IKEA is keen to enhance its product portfolio sourced from India. IKEA president and CEO Mikael Ohlsson met textile secretary Rita Menon last week and is said to have conveyed this message, sources said.
Textile secretary Rita Menon told FE that IKEA wants to increase the presence of Indian handicraft and handloom products on their shelves. “Since they source a large proportion of raw material from India, they want to increase that as well,” Menon said. “We have told them that they can look at places like Jodhpur, Saharanpur, etc, for furniture, and other places, depending upon specific raw materials in the country to enhance the Indian flavour in their product portfolio,” she said.
Experts said IKEA sourcing from India could double to 1 billion euros in 3-4 years if it was allowed to enter India.
IKEA, whose concept is based on offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home-furnishing products at affordable prices, has been pitching to enter India for over three years now, saying that India should open up its huge retail market.
