Starbucks opens first coffee house in India

Starbucks inaugurated its first store in India yesterday in a historic building in Mumbai. The Seattle-based coffee giant is seeking to tap into a market long associated with tea drinkers.

"It is perhaps the most elegant, beautiful, dynamic store we've opened in our history," the chief executive, Howard Schultz, said in an interview.

After more than six years studying the local market, Starbucks is making a swift entry into Asia's third-largest economy. Coffee houses are still a new trend in India, and the chains already in business sell cappuccinos and lattes well below Starbucks' usual prices.

AP