Bullish on India as it has everything in place to accelerate trajectory: Starbucks Global CEO Narasimhan
Starbucks chief executive officer Laxman Narasimhan said it will open a new store every third day in India to operate 1000 cafes by 2028, betting on the tea drinking nation which he called out for having 'an impressive development with improved ease of doing business.'
«It is really impressive when you look at the investments in infrastructure, you look at the building that is taking place, you look at how there's a digital revolution. The government is focused on eliminating some of the friction that does exist in areas like business or taxation and how they lean in to support businesses that are looking to invest in the country,» Narasimhan told ET, during his maiden visit to India after taking over the helm last March.
The world's biggest coffee retailer, whose Indian unit is a joint venture with Tata Consumer, has 390 stores and in FY23, crossed the Rs 1,000-crore sales mark for the first time since it set up shop in the country over a decade ago in 2012.
«The question is not was the last decade India's (sic). The question is how do you think of this long term going forward? And I think India has everything in place today to really accelerate its trajectory, even further going forward, which is why we are bullish on India,» said Narasimhan, who previously worked with Reckitt, PepsiCo and McKinsey, adding that coffee penetration in India is miniscule compared to most developed markets including China where it opened 6000 stores over the past 25 years.
India is similar to China in that it is also home to tens of thousands of small tea shops, where most Indians at all hours sip tea at prices as low as Rs5.
