The Revival of Café Coffee Day: How Malavika Hegde Took Over the Business After Her Husband's Death and Rebuilt it Despite ₹7,000 Crore Debt

BUSINESSES COME AND GO, but very few leave a lasting legacy that transcends generations. In India, starting a new business is not everyone’s cup of tea. Speaking of tea, imagine creating a coffee business in India, a country known for its vast tea consumption. Back in the 1990s, Indian businessman V. G. Siddhartha took the road less travelled and built one of India’s most popular coffee companies. 

The name may have been heard for its humble beginnings, its quick rise to fame, or its tragic fall from the top. V. G. Siddhartha was the founder of India’s beloved Café Coffee Day (CCD). 

Siddhartha’s life and his café business rose to immense heights, right before time knocked at his door. As per reports, V. G. Siddhartha allegedly died by suicide on July 29, 2019. His body was recovered from Hoige Bazaar beach near the Netravati River in Karnataka on July 31, 2019.

See Also: Lights, Camera, Action: From Costume Designer to Cinema, the Journey of Indrans Still Continues

Siddhartha and his café venture hit a wall, leaving behind a popular business with a reputation to remember and mountainous debt reportedly amounting to around ₹7,000 crore. After his death, his wife, Malavika Hegde, took over the chain. She refused to give up and rebuilt Café Coffee Day from the ground up. 

Story of Café Coffee Day: The Beginning

V. G. Siddhartha was from Karnataka and was born into an affluent family of coffee planters. He held a master’s degree in economics from St. Aloysius College and Mangalore University in Karnataka. Before returning to Bengaluru, Siddhartha worked in Mumbai, Maharashtra, at the age of 24, at JM Financial Company Limited. He started his café venture in 1996, becoming one of Karnataka’s first entrepreneurs to do so.

Café Coffee Day was headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka, with more than 1,000 outlets across the country by 2011. CCD’s rise to the top was often attributed to its marketing strategies and affordable products. By 2010, ₹10 billion (Rs 1,000 crore) had been invested in its expansion.

On July 29, 2019, V. G. Siddhartha went missing. His body was recovered near the Netravati River in Karnataka three days later, on July 31, 2019. He was married to Malavika Hegde, the daughter of S. M. Krishna, a former Minister of External Affairs. The couple had two children, Amartya and Ishaan Hegde. 

According to a report by NDTV, Siddhartha was allegedly distressed over facing constant harassment from an Income Tax officer and was also under pressure from one of his private equity partners. His close associate and Sringeri MLA, T. D. Rajegowda, told NDTV, “Four-five days back, he was upset about the Income Tax torture. Had he not been troubled, he would have survived.” As per his final words, jotted down in a letter accessed by ANI, Siddhartha expressed regret over his inability to create a “right profitable business.”

See Also: Who was Vithabai Narayangaonkar? The Tamasha Samradini who Gave Birth Backstage, Cut the Umbilical Cord with a Stone and Returned to Perform

How Malavika Hegde Saved Her Late Husband’s Dream

In 2020, Malavika Hegde stepped into her late husband’s shoes, taking over as the CEO of Café Coffee Day. Hegde was not only handling a company burdened with debt worth thousands of crores but also dealing with the financial challenges faced by CCD during the pandemic. To overcome the financial crisis, she made difficult yet important decisions to save India’s beloved Café Coffee Day.

Her major focus shifted to downsizing unprofitable stores, bringing the number down from 1,000 to 500 outlets, as cited by Medium. She remained calm and resolute, and, in order to honour her late husband’s legacy, Malavika Hegde kept moving forward, paying off the debt while keeping the business operational.

From having more than 1,000 cafés to now serving coffee and lattes at more than 400 cafés across 141 cities, CCD’s journey to preserve its legacy continues. As of December 31, 2025, CCD’s reported debt stood at around ₹839 crore, as cited by The New Indian Express. 

Today, Café Coffee Day is a reminder of V. G. Siddhartha’s dream, carried forward by his better half, Malavika Hegde, the CEO of India’s beloved coffeehouse chain. 

(Edited by Harsh Pandey)

Suggested Reading: