Mumbai, July 27: As part of Tata Starbucks' plan to make India among its top five markets, in terms of the number of stores, the company has recently announced that it is looking at open outlets in smaller cities with less than 5 million population in the next fiscal year. According to a report on Mint, Starbucks has a maximum number of outlets in the US, its home country, followed by China, Canada, Japan and the UK. India at present has 120 stores, and there is a long way to go before we can proudly enter the top 5 spot.

Sumitro Ghosh, Chief executive officer of the company, has been quoted in the report saying, "We are happy with the growth we are witnessing in India. This year, we’ll open more stores than the previous year. Every market is different, and each market takes its time to mature. We are here for just five-and-half years, and we are already looking at newer cities, especially tier-II and those with a population less than five million for new stores. We’re confident India will be among the top five markets in the longer term."

Starbucks is also among the first few to move away from plastic straws and make environment-friendly changes in the cutlery. It has posted its first positive Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) in 2017-18 when its sales growth nearly doubled.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 27, 2018 12:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).