Starbucks Corp to open first coffee shop in Mumbai by end October

Starbucks Corp is set to open its first coffee shop in India by the end of October and  Avani Saglani Davda, a Tata Group executive, has been tipped to lead its joint venture. Davda told The Wall Street Journal in an interview that the Indian market had been waiting for Starbucks.

The first store would be located in Horniman Circle near banks, residential neighborhoods and luxury hotels. Baked goods retailed would be get a local flavour but the lattes, cappuccinos and other drinks for which Starbucks is known would be available at the outlet. The coffee would be sourced and roasted locally.

The US company entered into a joint venture with Tata Global Beverages Ltd, a unit of India's flagship conglomerate, which owns Eight O'Clock Coffee in the US. The company said at that time the venture would kick off with an investment of $80 million, adding more funds as needed, and with its first store aimed for July or August. It said around 50 stores were planned by the end of this year.

The company, however is behind schedule and John Culver, president of Starbucks's China and Asia Pacific region, told the WSJ the company now would not disclose the number of stores it planned to open in India. He said only that the chain planned to grown very quickly as customers embraced it.

According to Culver, India was a huge market with great potential for Starbucks.

India, which is known mostly for its taste for tea has remained one of the last untapped markets for the Seattle-based coffee retailer, which operates in 57 countries. In recent years though  sipping coffee and socialising at coffee shops has become popular, which pushed domestic consumption of coffee to an estimated 108,000MT in 2010, up 80 per cent in the past decade, government figures show.