Brands
Home truths IKEA bets on Indian dreams with a new brand chapter
From kitchens to classrooms, IKEA reframes how Indian homes shape ambition.
MUMBAI: If India is dreaming bigger than ever, IKEA is pulling up a chair at the starting point. The Swedish home furnishings major has unveiled a new brand position for the country, It All Starts at Home signalling a shift from retail introduction to long-term emotional relevance in one of its most important growth markets.
The idea taps into a simple but powerful insight, Indian homes are no longer static spaces. Kitchens double up as studios, balconies become classrooms, bedrooms host businesses, workouts and late-night ambitions. Tradition and modernity now share the same square footage. IKEA’s new positioning celebrates homes as living, evolving foundations where everyday routines quietly shape bigger aspirations.
Since entering India in 2018, IKEA’s journey has mirrored this transformation. What began as an effort to familiarise shoppers with its stores, prices and life-at-home philosophy has grown into something more embedded. According to the company, top-of-mind recall has climbed sharply from four per cent at launch to 43 per cent today reflecting IKEA’s move from novelty to everyday relevance.
IKEA India CEO Patrik Antoni said the shift comes from listening closely to how Indians live today. Expectations from home have expanded, and the brand now sees its role as removing physical, financial and psychological barriers between people and their dream spaces. The ambition is clear, reach twice as many consumers while staying present across homes of every size, budget and aspiration.
The strategy also lays out IKEA’s next phase of growth. The focus will be on accessibility through multiple formats, deeper online penetration and service-led touchpoints across more cities. Small spaces, multifunctional living and everyday family needs areas where Indian homes are changing fastest will take centre stage.
The new brand direction will roll out through a 360-degree approach, spanning films, digital and social content, creator collaborations and in-store experiences, reinforced across IKEA’s website and app. Rather than shouting about products, the storytelling places them quietly in the background of real lives and real ambitions.
Earlier today, IKEA India released its brand manifesto, followed by the first of three films. The opening story features Kabita Singh, the Youtube creator behind Kabita’s Kitchen, who built a following of 15 million subscribers starting from a modest home kitchen, a fitting illustration of the brand’s core message.
In a market crowded with bold claims, IKEA’s latest move is deliberately understated. By rooting its growth story in the everyday realities of Indian homes, the brand is betting that the most powerful journeys still begin exactly where people live.
Brands
Dunkin’ Donuts to exit India as Jubilant FoodWorks ends 15-year franchise deal
The quick service restaurant giant is ending a 15-year franchise partnership with the American doughnut chain, even as it renews its Domino’s agreement for another 15 years
NOIDA: Dunkin’ is done in India. Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, the country’s leading quick service restaurant operator, has decided not to renew its franchise agreement with the American coffee and doughnut chain, and will wind down its Indian stores in a phased manner before December 31, 2026, bringing a 15-year partnership to a quiet, loss-laden close.
The decision, approved by JFL’s board on March 30, 2026, ends a relationship that began with a Multiple Unit Development Franchise Agreement signed on February 24, 2011. JFL will now evaluate and undertake what it described in a regulatory filing as the “rationalisation and/or cessation of certain operations and/or sale, transfer or disposal of assets and/or assignment or transfer of franchise rights,” all in consultation with Dunkin’s brand owners and strictly within the terms of the original agreement.
The numbers tell the story bluntly. In the financial year 2024-25, Dunkin’ India posted a revenue of Rs 37 crore against a loss of Rs 19 crore — a haemorrhage that was always going to test the patience of a parent company recording revenues of Rs 6,104 crore and a profit of Rs 194 crore in the same period. Doughnuts, it turns out, were never going to move the needle.
The contrast with JFL’s handling of its other marquee franchise could hardly be sharper. Even as it walks away from Dunkin’, the company has just doubled down on Domino’s, signing a fresh Master Franchise Agreement on March 31, 2026, granting it exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza stores in India for 15 years, with an option to renew for a further 10.
JFL, incorporated in 1995 and promoted by the Bharatia family, operates a network of more than 3,500 stores across six markets — India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Its portfolio includes Domino’s and Popeyes on the global side, and two home-grown brands: Hong’s Kitchen and COFFY, a café brand in Turkey.
For Dunkin’, India was always a stretch. The brand never quite cracked the cultural code in a market where filter coffee and chai command fierce loyalty and where the doughnut remains, at best, an occasional indulgence rather than a daily habit. Fifteen years, mounting losses and a parent with better things to spend its capital on was always going to be a difficult equation to solve.
The doughnut has had its last day. The pizza, however, is staying.
