Marks & Spencer has big plans for India

Marks & Spencer, the leading international departmental store, has drawn up ambitious expansion plans in India and China, starting as early as next year, its chief executive Stuart Rose has said.

Rose unveiled the company's international plans after announcing a pre-tax profit of 965.2 million pounds – a nine-year-high - for the 12 month period to March 31, 2007.

M&S will set out its international plans in detail in November this year. The department chain had entered India through the franchise route early this decade.

Rose, who said no final decision had been made on whether to open franchise stores in China or India or take a stake in a joint venture company, said: "The light has switched from red to amber."

Rose also said he was looking to re-enter Europe, six years after M & S closed its wholly-owned loss-making European business that resulted in almost 3,400 job cuts.

In the UK, the retailer expects to create 10,000 new jobs over the next three years as it invests more than 800 million pounds in refurbishing stores and increasing its floor space by as much as 20 per cent.