Coffee Day aims high

Best known for its Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) chain of coffee shops across India, the Coffee Day Group is increasing its thrust on its software special economic zone (SEZ), through an expansion spanning a million sq ft of space, for which it is understood to be raising debt of Rs 200 crore. Large technology companies, such as HP-MphasiS, MindTree and Texas Instruments are among the occupants of the SEZ.

V G Siddhartha, Chairman and Founder of the group, confirmed the expansion plans. Besides realty, he said another sector in focus this year would be its recently acquired business in logistics. “Sical Logistics, which we acquired recently, has immense potential and we will fine-tune the operations,” he added.

Unfazed by the ensuing entry of Starbucks into India, The flagship CCD is expected to add 200-300 cafes this year, taking the total to 1,200 outlets.

The group is also betting on e-commerce space to improve the margins. It has a vanilla site right now and are working towards its completion.