Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd. (CDEL) on 7th December, 2020 said Malvika Hegde, wife of late founder V G Siddhartha, has been appointed as the company’s CEO and will be in effect from December 31, 2020.

Siddhartha was found dead in August 19 and since then the group has been facing pressure to repay the debts of Rs 3,535 crore. Siddhartha was one of the biggest names in the coffee industry and his Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Co. Ltd and Coffee Day Global Ltd had provided jobs for over 100,000 people directly and indirectly. But rising debt and alleged harassment by income tax officials forced the 59-year old to take his own life last July that sent the company he founded into a downward spiral.

Malvika Hegde was a non executive director of the company before being appointed Chief Executive Officer. She joined the board of company in July and in a letter to the company she wrote that she will be preserving the future of company. She further addressed “We will work to reduce the debt to a manageable level by selling a few more investments as I am committed to the company’s future”. She is a graduate from university of Bengaluru in engineering and will now be incharge for at least five years. How can we miss the appreciation she deserves here? She has managed to reduce the debt even during lockdown and the CDEL group with full trust and confidence is now relying on Mrs Malvika Hegde to further reduce the debts and bring back the company on track.
In the regulatory filing Company said C. H. Vasudhara Devi, Giri Devanur and Mohan Raghavendra Kondi have been appointed as additional directors in the capacity of Non-Executive Independent Directors from 31 December 2020 up till 30 December 2025 subject to the approval of shareholders.

Report by Avantika Gurjar