Tata Consumer Products Managing Director and CEO Sunil D’Souza said on an Oct. 26 earnings call that Tata Starbucks would speed up India store openings as quarterly revenue climbed 15% and the chain reached 505 outlets.
Tata Starbucks, a 50-50 joint venture between Tata Consumer Products and Starbucks Corporation, ended the quarter with stores in 81 Indian cities. It opened seven net new stores, including two Reserve stores. The business recorded its fifth consecutive quarter of positive same-store sales growth.
D’Souza said the company had held back on new-store additions while it reworked how the business operated. He said the pace would now rise and put quarterly traffic growth at about 10%.
Price and menu changes are also part of the approach. D’Souza told Mint in an Oct. 30 interview that the venture had introduced lower-cost options to bring customers in. Tata Consumer Products’ FY26 annual report also records a Pujo-season menu drawing on Eastern India’s regional food traditions.
The annual expansion estimates vary by time frame. Mint quoted Tata Starbucks CEO Sushant Dash as saying the chain saw potential to add 50 to 100 stores each year. In an Oct. 28 interview with the Financial Express, D’Souza said the venture expected 40 to 50 net additions in FY27, followed by about 100 a year. He gave no annual figure on the Oct. 26 call.
The venture remained loss-making in FY26. Tata Consumer Products’ annual report puts Tata Starbucks’ after-tax loss at ₹98.95 crore for the year ended March 31, 2026, compared with ₹135.36 crore in FY25.
Redseer Strategy Consultants projected in 2024 that India’s out-of-home coffee market would reach $2.6 billion to $3.2 billion by 2028, growing at an annual rate of 15% to 20%.
