Tata Starbucks, the 50/50 joint venture between American cafe chain Starbucks Coffee and Tata Global Beverages, is gearing up to open 100 Starbucks cafes in India by next year.

The move forms part of the company’s plan to compete with rivals such as Cafe Coffee Day, Barista Lavazza and Costa Coffee.

Tata Starbucks will increase its authorised share capital from the current INR700m ($11.09m) by creating additional 150 million equity shares of worth INR1.5bn ($23.76m), the company said in a board resolution filed recently with the Registrar of Companies.

Tata Starbucks spokesperson told The Economic Times: "The joint venture will invest over time, based on the demands of the business and the requirements of our customers, to build a strong presence in the market."

According to a real estate official, the global coffee house chain has already inked two dozen properties, the news paper reported.

Tata Starbucks forayed into the Indian market in October 2012 and now has 18 stores across Mumbai and Delhi.

In contrast, Cafe Coffee Day has over 1,500 stores while Barista Lavazza and Costa Coffee operate more than 100 stores each.

Elargir Solutions director Ruchi Sally was quoted by the news paper as saying: "Starbucks has been opening stores only at locations where the catchment area can value its premium positioning. For them, the key strategy is return on investment from their stores and not just scale at the moment."

The $230m Indian cafe market is expected to grow about 13-14% a year over the next five years.