NEW DELHI -- Six years after announcing its ambitious long-term goal of opening 25 outlets in India, Swedish furniture group Ikea is ready to launch its first store next month, in the southern city of Hyderabad. It will offer affordable home furnishings and an in-house restaurant serving local delicacies -- but not the company's regular meatballs.
Ikea has invested close to 10 billion rupees ($147.4 million) in its Hyderabad store, and recruited about 1,000 people, half of them women, an Ikea India spokesperson told the Nikkei Asian Review on Friday.
