Starbucks Brews Plan to Enter India

Skinny Masala Macchiato, anyone?

Starbucks Corp. unveiled an alliance Thursday with India’s flagship conglomerate—a move designed to pave the way for retail locations here and to sell more Indian coffee world-wide.

India remains one of the big untapped markets for the Seattle-based coffee and food company. Chairman Howard Schultz said in an interview from Mumbai that India could one day rival China, where the company recently announced plans to more than triple the number of outlets to about 1,500 in five years.

India is “as large an opportunity as there exists in the world, coupled with China,” he said.