Tata Starbucks is preparing for a far more aggressive build-out in India after clearing a crucial profitability hurdle, with Tata Consumer Products (TCPL) Chairman N Chandrasekaran sketching out a runway that could eventually stretch to as many as 8,000 outlets nationwide.
Addressing shareholders of TCPL, the Tata group’s FMCG arm, Chandrasekaran framed the coffee chain as a business with very high growth potential in India’s fast-evolving consumption landscape. He argued that the brand has moved beyond its early-market testing phase into a scale-up mode backed by improving financial metrics and rising consumer adoption.
The venture, an equal partnership between TCPL and US-based Starbucks Corporation, entered India in 2012 and has spent more than a decade building familiarity in a market long dominated by tea. In FY26, the company crossed a substantial operational landmark, turning both EBITDA and EBIT positive for the first time, a threshold that Chandrasekaran suggested gives management greater confidence to lean into expansion.
With that shift, the focus is now on widening margins and locking in sustainable profitability even as the store base accelerates. Chandrasekaran stressed that capital deployment will be calibrated to support long-term returns rather than near-term volume at any cost, signalling a disciplined but ambitious approach to growth.
Tata Starbucks currently operates 502 outlets across India, after adding 23 new locations in FY26. Management now aims to step up the rollout pace, targeting between 50 and 100 new stores each year. The chain had earlier signalled an interim goal of reaching 1,000 stores by 2028, but the chairman’s remarks on potential capacity of up to 8,000 stores underscore how much white space he believes remains.
Chandrasekaran also highlighted that ongoing discussions with Starbucks Corporation continue to point to significant headroom across multiple Indian cities and formats, from metro centres to emerging urban clusters, reinforcing conviction that the brand’s footprint can expand well beyond its current concentration.
Financial performance has strengthened alongside this strategic pivot. In FY26, net losses narrowed sharply by 63.5%, falling to ₹49.47 crore from ₹135.7 crore a year earlier, reflecting better cost discipline and operating leverage from a larger base. Revenue from operations rose 7% to ₹1,367 crore over the same period, driven by steady consumer demand and improved operational efficiency across the network.
Taken together, the combination of first-time EBITDA and EBIT positivity, moderating losses, and continued topline growth appears to be setting the stage for Tata Starbucks to push harder into India’s competitive café market.
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