IT raid on Coffee Day's VG Siddhartha

Income tax officials on Thursday are carrying out raids on properties belonging to V G Siddhartha, Chairman and Managing Director of Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd and son-in-law of former Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna, across the country.

Simultaneous search operations are being conducted at offices of the INR 25 billion Coffee Day Group at multiple locations and other affiliated businesses, sources said. Raids are on at over 20 locations in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai and Chikmagalur, according to IT Department sources. Official reasons for the raids have not yet been disclosed.

“All properties that belong to Sidhartha – including CCD, way2wealth, Serai Estates, and his ownership of Global Village are being raided by us,” an official from the I-T



Department in Karnataka confirmed on condition of anonymity.

Siddhartha, 57, founded the Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company in 1993, which was later renamed Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd. The chain, which operates over 1600 cafes was first started in 1996 with single outlet in Bangalore. Siddhartha comes from a coffee plantation owning family, and has multiple business interests in industries such as furniture, real estate, investment consulting, agri exports and logistics. 

He is known to be a serial investor, and has diversified Coffee Day Enterprises portfolio through holdings in Mindtree Consulting and many other companies.

The IT Department is expected to issue a formal statement on the raids later today.