In pictures: A peek into Ikea’s first store in India

Swedish retail giant Ikea opens doors of its first store in India on Thursday in the erstwhile city of the 'Nizams'-- Hyderabad. The outlet is the first of 25 stores the world’s largest furniture retailer plans to open in India.

The Swedish multinational has invested more than Rs 1,000 crore on the Hyderabad outlet (including land, construction and capital goods). The Hyderabad Ikea store will have a direct staff strength of 950 employees and additionally 1500 would be employed indirectly in services.

Around 1,000 of Ikea's products will be available for under Rs 200, Ikea said in an official statement.

20 per cent of the products sold will be locally sourced, Ikea said in a statement. The store will exhibit two full homes that reflect ‘Life at Home in Hyderabad’,

The store has different room sets based on different parts of the home like bedroom, kitchen, children’s room and living room.

It will also have a market hall where one will find home kitchen utensils and accessories, textiles, rugs, lighting, decoration, stationary and live plants.

The store will stay open through the week from 10 am to 11 pm and the company expects up to 60 lakh visitors in a year.

“In terms of the products, the company will be bringing its classic Ikea range along with a small percentage of locally relevant products for the Indian market like masala boxes, pressure cookers, tawas, idli makers, colourful sheets and mattresses made with coconut fibre centre.

Customers will also be able to buy global classics like the BILLY bookcase, KLIPPAN sofa, LACK table and POäNG armchair among others,” Ikea said.

Ikea’s Hyderabad store will have the company’s largest restaurant globally. The 1,000-seater restaurant will have several vegetarian options, including Indian cuisine, on the menu.

The restaurant will not offer pork or beef meatballs, for religious reasons, substituting chicken or vegetarian alternatives instead. Indians' beloved biryani dish will sell for Rs 99.

A Gorkha rifles band of the Indian army pleased more than 200 eager shoppers queuing for the store by playing "Saare jahan se achcha Hindustan hamara" ("India is better than the rest").

After Hyderabad, next on the map for Ikea is Mumbai where it is currently constructing its store and hopes to open its doors to the public by next summer.

In India, Ikea will compete with the likes of Pepperfry and UrbanLadder.

Ahead of opening Ikea’s first store in Hyderabad on Thursday, CEO Jesper Brodin outlined Ikea’s priorities and challenges in India. Brodin said Ikea’s ‘mantra’ is quality.