CCL Products, a homegrown coffee manufacturer founded 28 years ago, has breached the $1-billion mark in market capitalisation.

“What started as a small firm with an annual capacity of 3,000 tonnes, has now become a 55,000-tonne capacity company,”  Founder-Chairman C Rajendra Prasad, said.

The company, which registered a turnover ₹2,070 crore in 2022-23, is the world’s largest private label manufacturer and the third-largest manufacturer of coffee in the world.

The company’s scrip closed at ₹651.50 on BSE on Monday.

“We are supplying coffee to customers in 100 countries. We are investing ₹400 crore each in India and Vietnam to increase the production by 22,000 tonnes,” Challa Srishant, Managing Director of CCL Products, said.

The company has a production capacity of 55,000 tonnes, with four manufacturing facilities (two in India and one each in Vietnam and Switzerland. “We are going to have a capacity of 16,000 tonnes near Tirupati and 6,000 tonnes in Vietnam. These two will be up and running by 2024-25,” he said.

Also read: Coffee exports likely to decline 10% this fiscal

Srishant, the son of the company’s Founder-Chairman C Rajendra Prasad, said the company is now looking at doubling the market cap in the next five years. 

In a select press conference, Rajendra Prasad related the initial hurdles such as getting licenses and gaining the confidence of importers.

Own brand

CCL Products, which is predominantly a volume player till five years ago supplying coffee to global players, had decided to launch its own brand. In the last financial year, it contributed ₹150 crore to the company’s turnover of ₹2,070 crore. The new vertical has broken even two years ago.

Earlier this month, CCL acquired six coffee brands from Swedish firm Löfbergs group, opening a business-to-consumer market for it in the lucrative UK market.

“Our core business is growing at 20 per cent. We are going to increase the focus on our own brand by diversifying the product portfolio and take the breakup between the traditional business and branded products 50:50,” Srishant said.

Heavy imports duties

Srishant said the country should reduce import duties on coffee products. “It is as high as 100 per cent now. It should be brought down to at least 30 per cent. It will still protect the interests of growers. If we open up, we can expand the market, which will benefit the ecosystem,” Srishant said.

He said a reduction in the duties will help reduce the coffee prices for Indian consumers.

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