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NEW DELHI-Fast-food chain McDonald's has revealed plans to invest Rs 1 billion ($22.3 million) in the next three to five years to set up 15 restaurants in Kolkata in the eastern region of India. The company will open its flagship restaurant in Kolkata next year and set up a regional distribution center to cater to its outlets in the city.

"We would be adopting a cluster approach for Kolkata and come out with a mix of all our formats--high street, mall and drive-through restaurants," McDonald's India managing director Vikram Bakshi said in a statement. The distribution center could also serve as a hub for future expansion into cities within a 500km radius. "Setting up operations with a new distribution center is viable only if the market has the growth potential to support multiple restaurants within a short span of time," a company spokesperson said in the statement.

The company had been studying the market in Kolkata for the past three years to identify consumer spending trends, real estate development and logistics issues. "In the past few years," Bakshi says, "Kolkata has witnessed a very encouraging economic growth backed with investments in infrastructure development."