New Delhi, June 19 -- Coffee chain Starbucks, which operates in India via a 50:50 joint venture with Tata Consumer Products Ltd (TCPL), is seeing store-level profitability, but rapid expansion is hurting its profitability, a top Tata Group executive said.

"While the individual Starbucks stores are indeed profitable, we're currently in an investment phase. This explains the discrepancies you're observing in our financial outcomes," said P.B. Balaji, group chief financial officer of Tata Motors and non-executive director of Tata Consumer Products, while addressing shareholders at the company's 62nd Annual General Meeting on Wednesday.

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The joint venture, Tata Starbucks ...