The plot in Sector 51 was allotted by the Noida Authority to INGKA Centres India Pvt Ltd, which is a subsidiary of the INGKA group that owns most IKEA stores. The company began negotiations with the Noida Authority in October 2019 over terms of payment for the plot and the deal was finalised after it paid Rs 850 crore.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath presided over the event virtually from Lucknow when Noida Authority transferred the land. The company paid Rs 56 crore as stamp duty to the government to get the land title transferred.
The Noida store will be IKEA’s third. It opened a store in Hyderabad 2018 and another in Navi Mumbai last year. The company said in a statement said IKEA will develop an anchored retail destination and INGKA’s 45th ‘meeting place’ globally at Noida. “Delhi-NCR is one of the most important markets in India and we are happy to announce the first store here,” IKEA India CEO Peter Betzel said in a statement.
Noida Authority CEO Ritu Maheshwari said the IKEA centre will bring in investments to the tune of Rs 5,500 crore and generate employment opportunities for more than 2,000 people. “The company will complete the entire project within a period of seven years,” said Maheshwari.
A spokesperson for INGKA Centres told TOI IKEA store-anchored ‘meeting places’ are mixed-use destinations that bring many people together for multiple reasons. IKEA has shopping centres anchored by its stores in Europe, Russia and China. “Noida will be our first such centre in India. The exact offerings will depend on the needs, desires and aspirations of the local people. The company’s plans are still in development, and more details will follow in the coming months,” the spokesperson said. In the plan submitted to the government, the Noida venture is to come up across two multi-storeyed buildings with separate blocks for retail, offices and hospitality.
The land deal with INGKA also cleared the decks for an interchange facility between Noida metro’s Aqua Line and Delhi metro’s Blue Line at Sector 51. Since the plot is situated between metro stations of the two corridors, the interchange, which will have to pass through it, could not be built while negotiations were on.
The overhead walkway, which will be the first interface between the two metro lines, will be built by Ingka as part of the deal, officials said. It will also develop a rotary to facilitate traffic movement near the intersection of Vishwakarma Marg and Captain Shashi Kant Marg as well as green belts and a parking lot, they added. The Noida Authority will be in charge of maintenance of the interchange, rotary, green belts and parking lot.
Though the original deal between INGKA Centres and Noida Authority was for 47,834 square metres (11.8 acre), but the government asked the company to buy an additional 1,902 sqm adjacent to the plot in December last year since it would be difficult to provide wide access for the smaller plot.
In return, Noida Authority agreed to offer land measuring 3,310 sqm for developing “social and support infrastructure” that will serve both the IKEA centre and Noida residents.