At a time when most companies are worried about the prospects in India due to uncertain economic conditions, Britain's Costa Coffee is still stretching its feet in the country.

The chain owned by Whitbread Plc recently opened its 100th store in India and has plans to open 100 more over the next eighteen months.

Santhosh Unni, chief executive of Costa Coffee India, admitted that the chain witnessed a slight decline in terms of consumer traction, but added that the company would not stop expanding further in the country.

Speaking on the topic, Unni said, "The last couple of months have shown a slight dip in terms of consumer traction, but I don't think it's anything that we are very worried about."

Meanwhile, data due on Friday is once again expected to reveal dismal figures for the recent quarter. A recent poll by Reuters estimated that the India economy grew at a rate of just 5.3 per cent during the June quarter, far below the government's target of 9 per cent.

But, net foreign institutional investment in stocks and bonds of the country has quadrupled to $16.7 billion this year. Production of consumer durables like refrigerators grew 9.1 per cent in the June quarter, helping shares in consumer goods manufacturers, such as Godrej and Hindustan Unilever, in reaching new hights.

The Sensex also performed well. It is up 14 per cent this year, giving the second best performance among major stock markets of Asia.