Starbucks, which was earlier eyeing its India foray by the end of 2007, withdrew a application on July 19 to operate single brand retail stores and said it was postponing its India plans without giving a time-frame for future plans.

However, the company's chief operating officer and international business head Martin Coles said late last night that Starbucks now planned to open its India stores in "the next year or two".

"We recently withdrew our application to enter India as we refocus our efforts in Asia Pacific, which is a key region for our company, but we remain very excited about potential of this country (India) and we plan to open that market in the next year or two," Coles told analysts at a conference call to discuss the company's third quarter results.

Starbucks reported a 20 per cent jump in quarterly revenue to USD 2.36 billion. It also announced plans to open 2,600 new stores in FY08, an increase of 200 from this fiscal's target.

Its international revenue rose 28 per cent to USD 432 million in the quarter. International store openings will accelerate while the US store openings will stabilize at 2007 levels, Coles said.

"Our International business is still in the very early stages of expansion and represents a tremendous source of growth for the company," Coles added. Starbucks has 4,000 stores overseas, still very far from the long-term target of at least 20,000 stores outside the US, he said.