Fast-growing espresso chain Barista, in which Tata Coffee Ltd holds a stake of about 34 per cent, said on Monday it planned to double the number of its coffee bars to 320 in the fiscal year to March 2004.
"We have 120 outlets as of today and we will close the fiscal year at 160," Ravi Deol, managing director of Barista Coffee Company Ltd, said.
"We'll continue to roll out and double the number of outlets in 2003-2004," he added.
In April this year, Deol had said that Barista planned to close the year at 250 outlets, up from 80 at the time.
Barista is expanding ahead of the expected arrival in India of US-based coffee bar chain Starbucks, domestic media reports say. It also faces competition from domestic chains such as Coffee Day and Qwiky's.
The board of Tata Coffee, part of India's multi-faceted Tata industrial empire, met in Bangalore on Monday to decide whether to subscribe to a rights issue of shares by Barista to raise Rs 80 million to fund the expansion programme.
Deol said Tata Coffee was expected to subscribe to the offer but added he could not say if other shareholders would renounce their rights, a move that may help Tata raise its stake from the current 34.3 per cent.
He said there were no immediate indications to suggest any renunciation of the rights offer by existing shareholders.
Turner Morrison, a firm associated with privately held Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd, publishers of 'Times of India' daily, owns about 60 percent, while employees hold the rest of Barista, Deol said.
He did not give other details of the rights issue, which closes on Wednesday. Tata Coffee officials were not available for comment.
Shares of Tata Coffee closed 2.1 per cent lower at Rs 65.10 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, where the benchmark 30-share index dipped 0.44 per cent.
