There are, roughly, 8,800 Starbucks stores in the United States these days, or one for every 34,000 Americans (although if you have visited Manhattan recently, you might think the penetration is even higher).

At the same ratio of stores to population, India would have more than 35,000 coffee houses filling white-and-green tall, grande and Venti cups with lattes, Frappuccinos and the odd Pumpkin Spice Cr�me.

Slideshows:
World's most expensive coffee
Coke v. Starbucks

But as of now there are no Starbucks outlets in India, a shortfall the company plans to remedy by the end of next year. Recent local news reports indicate a move may come more quickly, saying the world's largest coffee chain plans to venture into the Indian market in partnership with entrepreneur Kishore Biyani's Planet Retail Holdings.

The company is a leading lifestyle retailer in India with stores in 22 cities. It is the master franchisee for international brands like Guess, Marks & Spencer and The Body Shop.

Planet Retail declined comment, but an Indian daily reported the firm would become the master franchisee for Starbucks in India and other South Asian markets. The first Starbucks outlet in India is likely to open early next year.

Slideshows:
Breakfast battles
Health benefits of coffee

India, traditionally a country of tea drinkers, is seeing increasing competition among the big coffee retail players. Barista, owned by India's Sterling Infotech Group, Britain's Costa Coffee (in partnership with an Indian firm) and Caf� Coffee Day, a division of India's Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading are the leading coffee chains.

Caf� Coffee Day is India's leading coffee chain. Earlier this year, Sequoia Capital invested $20 million in Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading.

Earlier this month, Starbucks had said in a financial release that it planned to open stores in four new international markets - Brazil, Russia, India and Egypt - by the end of 2007. "India represents one of the most exciting growth markets in the world for the company� Starbucks' initial focus will be on major cities such as Delhi and Mumbai," the release said.

Starbucks, which has annual sales of $6.4 billion, cannot enter India on its own yet because of government curbs on foreign direct investment in the retail sector.

Though coffee drinking isn't a trend across all of India, it is popular among young urbanites, and their growing spending power is a great lure for foreign chains like Starbucks. Cafes are mostly frequented by a clientele between the ages of 15 and 35.

According to the Coffee Board of India, Indians currently consume about 80,000 tons of green beans (coffee measured before it's been roasted) a year. But the country exports almost thrice that amount - 206,400 tons. Italy is the biggest importer of coffee from India.

Slideshow:
The world's largest public companies