Starbucks India

Indian retail industry has been buzzing for over a year now about Starbucks’s imminent entry into the India market and Starbucks has not made it easy to understand their plans. Case in point – On Jan 10, Economic Times reported that the government had put Starbucks’s plan on hold because they didn’t give the complete information. On Jan 12th, Bloomberg reported that Starbucks is entering India in partnership with India’s retail powerhouse Pantaloon and Indonesia’s Mitra Adiperkasa. The first store is going to be in India’s capital New Delhi to be opened by the end of the year.

But wait, today, Jan 15th, Economic Times reports [p4, pitch report section] that Yes, Starbucks is opening its first stores in New Delhi and Mumbai but with an yet-to-be-announced joint venture firm. When asked about Pantalook and the Indonesian partner, the Starbucks official declined comment!