I-T raid is a technical issue, will be resolved: CCD’s Siddhartha

In September, there were reports about income tax (I-T) raids in premises of Cafe Coffee Day’s (CCD) founder VG Siddhartha. But he claimed that it was a technical issue and it will be sorted in few months.

Siddhartha, who was in the city to speak at A Speaker’s Series by Rotary Club, told The Free Press Journal, “The I-T raid was a technical issue and there was no cash involved.” Without revealing any further details, he said, “It will take 3-4 months before this issue is resolved.”

He is very clear that such activities is not hurting his business and work is as usual. Karnataka-based businessman stated that CCD will add 125 new outlets this year and shut down 15-20 outlets in a year. “When we came to Mumbai 15 years ago, we took smaller outlets. Now, we are closing those smaller ones to open bigger ones,” he explained.

Adding further, he said, “We are in 270 cities and towns. Some cities that are important to us are Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Kolkata. These big cities contribute to about 60 per cent of our income and the remaining 35 per cent come from the smaller cities.” Keeping in mind the young crowd, CCD will plan its expansion, stated Siddhartha. But at present, CCD is trying to have new outlets keeping in mind the 50:50 ratio (big cities: small cities). To meet 15 per cent growth target, CCD might even increase its employee intake by 25-30 per cent.

Highlighting the growing demand of coffee in India, this soft-spoken entrepreneur said, “India will fall short of coffee in times to come.” He foresees a growing demand of instant coffee in India, which is like the same growth story of Japan in 1960. At present, coffee to tea ratio is 1:18 in India, he stated and it will change.

Globally, coffee business is growing at 2 to 2.5 per cent per annum. The company’s global target is that, in next 5-7 years it will be in 20 countries. Meanwhile even as demand for coffee increases, he maintained that the company does not plan to go outside India for coffee growing. “Because, operating and growing outside India is not easy as there are labour issues. We might import coffee for outside Indian market but not for India,” Siddhartha added.

Apart from coffee business, Siddhartha is also involved in hospitality business. According to him, it is a small business with only 30-40 rooms. “In ten years, we would have maybe ten such hotels, we have no big plans there.” At present, the company has one hotel near the plantation and rest is in and around wild sanctuary.