The Seattle-based chain signed a pact with Tata Coffee Ltd to source coffee in India and explore opening retail stores in the country, the two companies said in a statement.
The agreement also allows Starbucks and Tata Coffee to consider jointly investing in additional facilities and roasting green coffee for export to other markets.
India exports roughly 70 to 80 percent of its total coffee output.
A Tata executive told a local TV station that the first Starbucks shop in India was likely to open in about six months.
In India, where tea has long been the beverage of choice, an increasingly affluent and urban population with westernized tastes is embracing cafes, paying much more for a cup of coffee than at traditional restaurants.
"We believe India can be an important source for coffee in the domestic market, as well as across the many regions globally where Starbucks has operations," Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz said in a statement.
Margins of global coffee retailers like Starbucks were under pressure in 2010 after coffee prices rose 77 percent during the year due to supply constraints.
The alliance with Tata Coffee could help ensure steady supplies.
A cup of plain coffee typically costs less than 10 rupees (about 22 U.S. cents) at a basic restaurant in India, compared with 50 to 60 rupees at one of the western-style cafe chains that began sprouting up about ten years ago.
The organised coffee market in India -- which reflects consumption mainly through cafes -- accounts for about $140 million of the country's total domestic consumption of $667 million.
A burgeoning middle class in an economy growing at nearly 9 percent a year has lured many U.S. companies to India in recent years. Several chains, including Domino's Pizza, McDonald's and YUM Brands with its KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell units, have entered the Indian market, adapting their menus to the Indian palate.
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