A lot can happen over coffee: The CCD Saga

The corporate world, as a whole, was shocked at the turn of events that happened at CCD and the ill-fated alleged suicide of its founder Mr VG Siddhartha (or VGS as he is fondly known as). Born in one of the oldest coffee-cultivating families, VGS built India's iconic business empire in 26 years with hard work and determination. His initiative became India's largest coffee exporter, along with owning Asia's largest coffee plantation. Yet, in his alleged letter to his employees and board (the authenticity of which is still to be confirmed), he called himself a failed entrepreneur.

Let us assume that the contents of the letter is true, and that the financials of CCD is not as strong as its coffee. With liquidity crunch at its peak, there will certainly be a situation where loan commitments may get affected, and India's iconic company may fall in the list of defaulters. If that happened, the entire blame would have been on the management, especially VGS. This would also have had a political angle, with him being the son-in-law of the former Chief Minister of Karnataka and former External Affairs Minister — who was with the Congress and now with the ruling party.

The Late VG Siddhartha, former head of Cafe Coffee Day (Courtesy: Sify)

VGS would have been called a fraud, and even a traitor. He would have been hunted by media and the social media, his outlets attacked, and ultimately, would be labeled a 'Failed Entrepreneur'.

I presume that he knew this well, and this, maybe the reason why he took this extreme step. India has seen many corporates falling. And since the divide between the Haves and the Have-nots is enormous, the common man tends to enjoy the failures of these "large corporates".

The Employees

I am, in no way, suggesting that corporates are saints. There would have been fraud cases, and similar situations. But ultimately, the lives of people working in those companies get affected. We have seen the anguished faces of the employees of Kingfishers Airlines, Jet Airways, Nirav Modi, and Gitanjali Group. The 30,000-odd employees of CCD are now faced with the same situation.

In a way, VGS saved himself, his family and his company from a traumatic period. The loss to the family is inevitable and my heart goes with them.

VGS, you built an empire that is so close to everyone who experienced Cafe Coffee Day. Not only were you never a failed entrepreneur, but you were a hero in all terms, as well. You might have taken bad financial decisions, but your decision to start CCD was never a wrong one. Your life was like the caption of your company — "A lot can happen over a coffee."

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