India's $40bn (£29bn) "home and living" market - of which furniture and furnishings is a big component - is mainly powered by the country's middle class. Ikea believes it is slowly making inroads - many of the 8,500-odd products on sale at its two 430,000 sq ft stores in Hyderabad and Mumbai, and online, are tailored and tweaked to suit Indian consumers. "Ikea is not in a hurry. They are all about creating and expanding an organised, price-sensitive, modern retail furniture market for India," said Ankur Bisen, senior vice-president at Technopak, a consultancy. A third of Ikea's range in India changes every year and a quarter of its products on sale are locally sourced, according to Kavitha Rao, Ikea India's chief commercial officer. "As a market, India always holds surprises for any global retailer. It is price-sensitive and you have to work across consumers in each category." So, Ikea here sells its cheapest sofa at 10,000 rupees ($134; £98) and its most expensive one at 125,000 rupees. A 19-rupee set of colourful spoons for children and a 99-rupee whiskey glass are among the lowest-priced items. To better understand Indian consumers, Ikea visited more than 2,000 households with varying incomes in different cities. It placed furniture, home furnishing accessories and kitchens in many homes and tested them to see how they fared in the country's hot, humid and dusty cities.
