Dunkin' India faces franchise reset as Jubilant exits partnership

Jubilant FoodWorks has said it will not renew its Dunkin’ India franchise agreement when it expires on Dec. 31, 2026, setting up a reset for a brand that has struggled to find traction for years. The partnership began in 2011, when Dunkin’ Donuts signed a master franchise deal with Jubilant to develop more than 500 restaurants across India over 15 years. The first Indian stores opened in New Delhi in April 2012.

That early ambition never translated into scale. By December 2025, Jubilant operated about 27 Dunkin’ outlets in India after closing seven stores over the previous year. Dunkin’ accounted for about 0.61% of Jubilant FoodWorks’ FY2025 revenue and posted a loss of roughly 191 million, a combination that left the brand far short of its original growth plan and increasingly peripheral inside a portfolio focused on Domino’s Pizza and newer growth bets such as Popeyes.

The move now looks less like a simple exit than a handoff. Inspire Brands, which acquired Dunkin’ globally in 2020, has been negotiating to take back or sell the India franchise rights, and recent reporting says Graviss Group, the operator of Baskin-Robbins in India, is in talks to acquire them. That would keep the brand in play, but only if a new local operator can build a model that works better than the first one did.

Any replacement partner would need to change more than ownership. Dunkin’ entered India as a coffee-and-baked-goods concept adapted for local tastes, but the original playbook did not deliver the 500-store vision. A viable reset would have to sharpen the menu for Indian preferences, rethink store format, make delivery economics work, and decide whether Dunkin’ should be positioned more clearly as a coffee-led brand rather than a broad café stop.

That challenge lands in a more crowded market than the one Dunkin’ entered in 2012. India’s coffee business has become more competitive, with domestic brands, premium café chains and global operators all chasing younger consumers who expect convenience, value and menu novelty at the same time. For Dunkin’, the question now is whether a new master franchise can make the brand relevant in that mix before the clock runs out on the old one.