Starbucks closing in on deal with Tata Coffee

Mumbai: Starbucks Corp, the world's largest coffee company, is finalizing its retail partnership with Tata Coffee and hopes to announce the deal by the end of this month, a senior official of the Indian company said on Thursday. In early 2011, the Seattle-based company signed a pact with the Tata group firm to buy coffee from India and explore opening retail stores in the country. 

    "We are close to finalizing it and are working on the final details. We hope to make an announcement very soon," M D Kumar, chief financial officer of Tata Coffee, said. Tata Coffee plans to open a Starbucks coffee shop by the end of this year, MD Hameed Huq told reporters on the sidelines of the International Coffee Festival in Delhi earlier in the day. 
    In India, where tea has long been the beverage of choice, an increasingly affluent and urban population with westernized tastes is embracing cafes. 
    The two companies had planned to open the first Starbucks outlet in India by mid-2011, but the plan was delayed on account of difficulties in acquiring real estate, Tata Coffee chairman R K Krishnakumar had said in August. REUTERS