Who is V G Siddhartha? Here's all you need to know about India's coffee king

Bnegaluru, July 30: Born in Chikkamagaluru district in Karnataka state in a lush green malenadu region, V G Siddhartha comes from a family that has been in the business of coffee plantation for around 140 years.

He is credited with creating India's largest coffee empire. He is married to daughter of S M Krishna, the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, Indian Minister for External Affairs and Governor of Maharashtra.

After doing his Masters from the Mangalore University, V G Siddhartha joined J M Financial Limited in 1983-1984 in Mumbai as a management trainee/intern in Portfolio Management and securities trading on the Indian Stock Market under Vice Chairman Mahendra Kampani. He was just 24 years then.

After two years with J M Financial Limited, when Siddhartha returned to Bangalore, his father gave him money to start a business of his choice. Siddhartha bought a stock market card for Rs 30,000, along with a company called Sivan Securities, which was renamed in 2000 as Way2wealth Securities Ltd. Its venture capital division came to be known as Global Technology Ventures (GTV) as well as a site in the city in 1984 and turned it into a highly successful investment banking and stock broking company.

Siddhartha started the café chain in 1993 when he incorporated Coffee Day Global which is the parent of the Coffee Day chain. In 2000, the company achieved another milestone when it ventured into the retail financial services with the launch of Way2Wealth by acquiring Sivan Securities Limited.

Almost 15 years later, Siddhartha established a successful coffee business in Karnataka. He grows coffee in Chikmagalur and exports about 28,000 tonnes of coffee annually and sells another 2,000 tonnes locally for about Rs 350 million each year. His coffee growing and trading company, Amalgamated Bean Company (ABC), has an annual turnover of Rs 25 billion.

Siddhartha entered Mindtree in 2000 by investing in the IT startup through Coffee Day Global's subsidiary Coffee Day Trading.

Coffee Day Global also has interests in hospitality business. In 2006, it launched the Coffee Day Hotels & Resorts which operates under the brand name 'The Serai'.

The 58-year-old coffee entrepreneur had recently been in talks with Coca Cola to offer the international giant a stake in his Coffee Day enterprise.