Dominos likely to have over 10,000 stores in India in next 20 years, says Hari Bhartia of Jubilant

Bhartia believes that the scope of growth in the Indian market is unlimited for US brand, adding that one reason for Dominos success in India

Pizza restaurant chain Dominos aspires to have more than 10,000 stores in the next two decades  in India, Hari Bhartia, Founder and Co-Chairman of Jubilant Bhartia Group told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.  He added that India could soon rival the US market for Dominos' pizza, which currently is the biggest market for the Italian origin dish.

"When we started 25 years back it looked quite difficult but at the pace that we are growing I think the market is probably maybe 7000 stores and in the next 20 years it will be more than 10,000 stores so it will be as big as the US market," Bhartia said.

Further, he added that the 'India consumption story' lies in the underexplored and upcoming Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities of India, where there's a huge demand for hygienic products at great value.

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"The Indian consumption story is not in main cities only in main large urban centers that we visit but is it is now starting to see in district headquarters in small towns where consumers want great and hygienic products delivered at great value," Bhartia said.

Bhartia believes that the scope of growth in the Indian market is unlimited for the US brand, adding that one reason for Dominos success in India is continously leveraging the scale to bring value, as he claimed that the pizza-chain has not increased the prices substantially in the last decade or so but has continued to provide 'great value'.

"So, if I look at our own experience in the last 25 years, you know, when we first looked at bringing a US brand to India, one thing we learned was that in the US, the brands like McDonald's or Domino's , have done well because they provide great products at good value," Bhartia said.

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Addressing the scale and the headroom for growth in India, Bhartia mentioned that Jubilant group's India plans include bringing the US based fried-chicken chain Popeye's to India.

He also mentioned that contrary to popular belief India is a non-vegetarian market when it comes to consumption and thus Popeye's is likely to be successful in the Indian market.

"We have we have recently brought in Popeyes which is a fried chicken brand, India is a large consumer of this protein as you know because chicken is the most reasonably priced protein that you can find here and  India is a majority non-vegetarian market barring some parts of India where people do eat a lot of vegetarian food, so we believe this will be equally big and equally successful," Bhartia said.