Starbucks submits fresh application for India foray

Three months after the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) put its entry into India on hold, US coffee retail giant Starbucks has sent a revised application to operate single-brand retail stores under a restructured entity.

Responding to an e-mail questionnaire, a Starbucks spokesperson in the US said the company submitted the revised application last week. She, however, did not disclose the details of the restructured entity, but said the company was hopeful of "opening its first store in India by the end of 2007 either in New Delhi or Mumbai."

The spokesperson said Starbucks was co-operating with the ministry of commerce and industry and other agencies to arrive at a decision on Starbucks' entry into one of the fastest-growing markets in the world.

In its original application, Starbucks had proposed to keep up to 51 per cent in its Indian venture "" the maximum foreign ownership allowed in single-brand retail business. The company had roped in the Kishore Biyani-promoted Pantaloons and VP Sharma, head of its Indonesian franchise, to enter India. Sources said in January this year, the FIPB had raised doubts over the shareholding of Sharma, who is the president-director of PT Mitra Adiperkasa, Indonesia.

The company sought the FIPB approval in December 2006, as part of its strategy to have shops in 40 countries, including India.

Starbucks had also said it was planning a joint venture for its operations in India. The global major now has 12,440 stores worldwide and is opening six stores a day.

Starbucks is one of the 15 companies which wanted to open stores in the country after the Centre allowed FDI in retailing of single -brand products last year. Nine of them have got the government nod and three applications were rejected. Proposals of three others, including Starbucks, are pending with the commerce and industry ministry.