Yum Brands Eyes India Expansion

Yum Brands Inc. (Louisville, Ky.), owner of the KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut fast-food chains, says its investing $150 million in India to grow its restaurant chain to more than 60 cities in that country by 2015.

“Specifically by 2015, we want to be a billion dollar company with 1000 restaurants,” Niren Chaudhary, managing director for Yum! Restaurants, India, told reporters at a World Economic Forum event.

Yum already operates about 150 Pizza Hut stores and about 65 KFCs in India. For 2009, same-store sales growth has increased more than 20 percent at Pizza Hut and over 6 percent for its KFC brand. Yum is also eyeing its first Taco Bell restaurant in Bangalore.