India's Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has said that he hopes that the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) might approve a proposal by Swedish furniture major IKEA to set up is business in the country.

"We have cleared it. I have no reason to doubt because there were certain clarifications which were required. We are satisfied and accordingly DIPP has conveyed the same and forwarded it with its recommendations for the final approval," Sharma said.

The FIPB was expected to meet on January 18 to discuss the matter but the meeting has been postponed to January 21. The proposal from Ingka Holding Overseas BV, IKEA's parent company, was taken out from the agenda of the meeting held on December 31 because the government sought more information from the company about its operations in the country. FIPB has already approved Rs 4,200 crore out of a total of Rs 10,500 crore investment proposal by the company.

The company said that it needs more flexibility in operations in order to make the entire IKEA concept to work in India. The company positions itself as a provider of complete home furnishing solutions and offers a range of products from furniture to stationary and other objects. The company has an impressive 10,960 products across its product categories and all stores offer at least the core products.

IKEA Group is planning to invest in single brand retail business model in the country, which will be operated by a 100 per cent subsidiary. The proposal from IKEA is the largest investment in the single-brand retailing ever. The government had allowed foreign investment in single brand retail in January this year but there are concerns that the India government is not ready to allow much needed flexibility.