Starbucks tie up with Biyani likely

The Economic Times reports that Seattle based coffee company; Starbucks is likely to tie up with Planet Retail Holdings, a subsidiary of The Future Group, to set up operations in India. Once the formalities are completed, Planet Retail will be the master franchisee for India and South Asian markets.

The $6.4-billion coffee chain’s India strategy has been a matter of great interest and speculation, as company officials have been making routine visits to India twice a year. It has been in talks with various Indian companies for almost three years, prominent among them being the Rahejas and RPG group.

Earlier this year, Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz had said, at the company's Q3 result conference, “We are equally excited about two other major markets we intend to enter during 2007 — India and Russia... We are in discussions with potential joint venture partners in each of these markets. Meanwhile, we are scouting for locations, meeting government officials — all for gaining additional market knowledge and building critical relationships to make our market entries a success.”