Tax department concludes Cafe Coffee Day group probe

BENGALURU: The income-tax department concluded its search on the Coffee Day Group companies, founded by Chikkamagaluru-born entrepreneur VG Siddhartha, on Sunday.

In a statement, the I-T department said: “The searches in a group involved in coffee, tourism, information technology and other areas concluded with an admission of previously concealed income exceeding Rs 650 crore. The detection of undisclosed income is expected to be a much higher figure.“

The department added: “There are a number of other issues including violations of other statutes on which there is no disclosure, but relevant evidence has been found. These will be pursued effectively with vigour, energy and imagination“.

The Coffee Day group did not reply to email queries from ET. I-T officials began search operations on Thursday at multiple locations of the group across Bengaluru, Mumbai and Chennai. The group is also one of the largest owners of coffee plantations in India.

The Coffee Day Enterprises stock has been trading in the red since the I-T searches commenced. Siddhartha, a Bengaluru-based entrepreneur, is the son-inlaw of senior political leader and former Karnataka chief minister SM Krishna, who joined the BJP in March this year after expressing disappointment with the Congress party.

Siddhartha founded the Coffee Day group in 1993 and took his company public in October 2015.