Unravelling the mystery behind the death of India's coffee magnate

VG Siddhartha was born to a family of coffee planters in Karnataka's Chikmagalur; he set up India's first coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) in Bengaluru in 1996

CCD owner and founder VG Siddhartha became a full-time investor in the stock market and also owned 10,000 acres of coffee farms by 1985. As years go by, his wealth doubled with the liberalisation of coffee trading in the 1990s.

Days after Income Tax Department first raided premises of India's largest coffee chain - Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) - owner VG Siddhartha, the income tax sleuths have found Rs 650 crore concealed income from the documents seized while concluding the search and seize operations on Sunday.

On National Stock Exchange (NSE), the stock opened at Rs 317 per share and hit an intraday low of Rs 280.50, down 11.51 per cent.

\"...effective from Monday, November 2, 2015, the equity shares (20,60,01,719) of Coffee Day Enterprises shall be listed and admitted to dealings on the exchange in the list of 'B' Group of securities,\" the BSE said in a circular.

The IPO closed on October 16 after three days of bidding in a price band of Rs 316-328 a piece for the shares on offer.

The Rs 1,150-crore IPO received bids for 1,93,74,885 shares against the total issue size of 2,58,14,198 shares, according to data available with the NSE till 1700 hours.

The IPO of Coffee Day Enterprises received bids for 34,24,275 shares against the total issue size of 2,58,14,198 shares on offer, receiving 13 per cent subscription, data available with the NSE till 1700 hours showed.

The operator of the popular Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) chain plans to mop up Rs 1,150 crore through the IPO, which would be the biggest in the country in nearly three years.

The operator of Cafe Coffee Day shops has filed papers with Sebi for an IPO to raise an estimated Rs 1,150 crore which would be the largest share sale this year so far.

Chairman V G Siddhartha added 70 per cent of the new stores would come in exciting cities where CCD already operates and rest would come up in new cities and highways.

India needs to support small entrepreneurs in farm processing and value-added retailing to create jobs for those at the bottom of the pyramid.

As part of the BT's series to showcase companies that are big, but not market leaders yet, V.G. Siddhartha' s Cafe Coffee Day needs a prominent mention. Like a shot of super-heated steam, Siddhartha has shaken up the somnolent Indian coffee business. His story is just beginning. SPECIAL: India Inc's rising star companiesOthers in the list:Fortis | Glenmark | Lanco Infratech | IndiGo | Axis Bank | Nuclear Power Corporation | iGate

Branded chains are reworking their models as competition in the coffee retailing sector increases.

Infosys Technologies, today the bellwether IT stock in India, was far from a favoured pick 18 years ago.

CCD chief VG Siddhartha predicts domestic coffee consumption will increase so much that India will not have any quality coffee beans left for exports in about seven years.

A fast expanding coffee-to-infrastructure to-financial services sprawl already ranks V.G. Siddhartha among India's 50 richest people. And, this is just the beginning.