Malavika Hegde: The gritty leader who put CDEL on revival mode

Siddhartha, the founder of Cafe Coffee Day, India's largest coffee shop, killed himself on July 29, 2019. He had gone missing mysteriously en route to the coastal city of Mangaluru amid mounting debts.

Since then, the group has been facing pressure to repay debts and had been paring them through the sale of non-core assets. In December, Malavika Hegde, wife of Siddhartha and daughter of the former Chief Minister of Karanataka, Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna, was appointed as the company's Chief Executive Officer of Coffee Day Enterprise Ltd (CDEL). She has been a non-executive board member of the company with a keen eye in the nuts of bolts of the coffee business. Although Siddhartha was an active board member, Malavika has been handling the daily operations of CCD since 2008.

Now, Malavika has been making headlines for the right reasons and here is why...

Soon after her husband's demise, Malavika, in a letter to the company's 25,000 employees on July 24, said she was committed to the future of Coffee Day as a going concern. "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 said.

When Malavika took over the company in December 2020, she was welcomed by debts of nearly Rs 7,200 crore. And with Siddhartha's sudden demise, many thought it was the end of the road for the group.

In August last year, CDEL said that it had reduced debt “significantly” and that the management was trying to put the company back on track. 

According to its latest annual report, CDEL's net debt as on March 31, 2021 was Rs 1,731 crore.

"The total loan funds stood at Rs 1,779 crore which comprises of long-term borrowings of Rs 1,263 crore and short-term borrowings of Rs 516 crore," it said.

Read more: Cafe Coffee Day founder V G Siddhartha's body found

The company's net debt stood at Rs 2,909.95 crore in FY20. Besides, the seven subsidiaries of CDEL are awaiting a report by Justice K L Manjunath, former judge of Karnataka High Court, to take a decision on the recoverability of Rs 3,535 crore, it said. 

The company is said to have maintained its growth even as the pandemic brought many businesses to their knees in India. 

Netizens are now hailing Malavika for lowering her company's debt and reviving her late husband's dream.