50 new KFC, Pizza Hut restaurants in India

Yum! Restaurants International, a $8 billion global restaurant company with franchisee brands like KFC and Pizza Hut, on Thursday said it would open as many as 50 new restaurants in the country to expand India operations.

"We will open several outlets under the brands of KFC and Pizza Hut in several parts of the country like Delhi and Mumbai next year," Arvind Mediratta, chief marketing officer, Yum! Restaurants International (India subcontinent) said after opening the first KFC restaurant in Ludhiana.

The company will be spending about Rs 2 to 2.5 crore (Rs 20 to 25 million) per outlet under its expansion plans, he said.

Announcing the entry into Punjab with the Ludhiana outlet, the company said they were looking at possibilities of setting up outlets in Jalandhar and Amritsar. "Our entry into Ludhiana is in line with our plans of rapidly increasing presence in the region," he said.

Yum! Restaurants International, having 34,000 restaurants across 100 countries, has a total of 11 outlets in India including five in Bangalore, two in Pune and one each in Chandigarh, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Ludhiana.