Good news! Whopping 8000 jobs coming; do you live in this state?

House furnishing company, IKEA India has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath led Uttar Pradesh government according to which it will invest more than Rs 5000 crore in the state over the coming years. Significantly, the Sweden based company, which opened its first store in India earlier this year, aims to create over 8000 jobs in Uttar Pradesh. Peter Betzel, CEO, IKEA India, said that Uttar Pradesh is an important market for him and the company is currently in talks with the Yogi Adityanath government to facilitate its expansion plans in the state. 

"IKEA is committed to making a better and brighter everyday life for more of the many people in India. Uttar Pradesh is an important market for and we are in dialogue with the present Government to facilitate our expansion plans in the State," he said. Betzel added that IKEA's long term intent is to partner the state towards creating world class retail and  commercial parks comprising of shopping centers, offices and integrated commercial projects, which could be owned either by an INGKA company or independent developers, in accordance with its global business model. 

"In line with our new retail direction, we intend to set up a mix of large and smaller city center format stores complimented by e-commerce in the State over time. The immediate plan is to set-up a large format IKEA store in Noida where we are exploring opportunity for suitable land purchase," Betzel added. 

Apart from expanding to new cities, IKEA also aims to work towards bringing best practices in retail, enhancing retail competence for our co-workers, exploring more business partners for product manufacturing and skilling local artisans to create better livelihood opportunities.

World's largest furniture and home products retailer had received India's approval in 2013 to open 25 stores by 2025. The company took a big step in this regard when it opened its first store in India in Hyderabad in August this year. 

It has also announced that the second store will be opened in Mumbai in 2019 which will created around 10,000 direct and indirect jobs in Maharashtra. These job opportunities will come in merchandising, store operations, supply chain and allied assembly services. 

IKEA plans to open its third store in Bengaluru.