Hardcastle Restaurants will double its store count over the next two years. This is after its announced push in the booming fast food restaurant market as more Indians prefer to dine out.

Hardcastle Restaurants, a development licensee of McDonald's Corp for the south and west of the country, has been around India for 17 years. It has merged into a listed group company and seeks to raise funds through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) or a follow on public offer (FPO).

The aggressive move by Hardcastle would parallel its rival's planned opening of one thousand stores and generate more than a billion dollar revenue by 2015 in India. Yum! Brands, Hardcastle's rival include KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in its list of additional fast food restaurants to open in India.

The Indian restaurant industry is valued at US$9 billion the industry is expected to become a US$16 billion market by 2016. This was according to India's National Restaurant Association.