IKEA keen to set up facility at hub near Kandla port

NEW DELHI: Ikea, the world's largest furniture retailer, has evinced interest in setting up a facility at a proposed furniture cluster in the upcoming industrial city near Kandla port in Gujarat, Shipping and Road Transport & Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said.

"They want to work on the China like model in India where they set up the ecosystem and develop a chain of vendors through which the finished products would be sourced for the Indian as well as the global market," Gadkari said on Tuesday.

He did not say whether IKEA has or plans to commit any investment in the project. "They would provide the technology and designs. The talks are still in preliminary stage," the minister said.

The shipping ministry is setting up a smart port industrial city near the Kandla port spread over 1,400 acre, of which about 450 acre would be reserved for the furniture cluster. The government is in talks with IKEA to develop that cluster into a world class export centre.

The industrial cluster project is part of the government's ambitious Sagarmala project, which focuses on portled development.

The idea is to set up 27 industrial sectors at the ports across the country where region specific industry would be promoted. The transport minister expects these industrial clusters to attract investment of at least Rs 8 lakh crore.

According to a senior government official, top executives from IKEA have already inspected the site and initial talks have been optimistic.