Coffee King: The Swift Rise and Sudden Death of Café Coffee Day Founder V. G. Siddhartha

An exhaustive investigative deep-dive into the meteoric rise, staggering ambition, and tragic collapse of Café Coffee Day founder V. G. Siddhartha.

About the Book: When the news of V. G. Siddhartha’s tragic death broke in July 2019, it sent shockwaves across India, raising unsettling questions about the crushing pressures hidden behind corporate success. More than just the visionary founder of the ubiquitous Café Coffee Day chain, Siddhartha was a titan of Indian entrepreneurship. Starting with just ₹30,000, he rose from his roots in a Karnataka coffee plantation to build a sprawling empire encompassing India's largest coffee curing plant, hospitality, logistics, and strategic early investments in tech giants like Infosys and Mindtree.

At the zenith of his success, his net worth crossed ₹3,000 crore, with over 1,700 coffee outlets nationwide. Yet, beneath this gleaming façade lay a convoluted web of over fifty companies burdened by an unsustainable debt of ₹5,000 crore. In Coffee King, expert business journalists Rukmini Rao and Prosenjit Datta trace the gripping, heartbreaking story of relentless growth, high-stakes finance, income tax raids, and the ultimate human cost of corporate ambition.

Key Features & Benefits:

• Exhaustive Investigative Journalism: Meticulously researched and reported by veteran business journalists Rukmini Rao and Prosenjit Datta.

• Compelling True Business Story: Chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of one of India's most iconic modern entrepreneurs and retail pioneers.

• Behind-the-Scenes Insights: Uncovers the hidden financial pressures, debt traps, and systemic challenges facing high-growth enterprises.

• Essential Reading: A gripping, thought-provoking page-turner for entrepreneurs, business students, and readers of contemporary Indian non-fiction.