Venkatraman Srinivasan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from the University of Bombay and is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India since 1981.
Tata Coffee Ltd has informed that the Board of Directors has appointed Venkatraman Srinivasan as an Additional Director of the Company to hold office as Non-Executive Independent Director, with effect from July 28, 2021.
Venkatraman Srinivasan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from the University of Bombay and is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India since 1981.
He is a partner in V. Sankar Aiyar & Co., Chartered Accountants, since 1984. He is engaged in audit & assurance practice and direct tax & corporate advisory services since 1984, specializing in statutory audits of banks, mutual funds and financial companies, public sector companies, and advisory in the areas of direct tax, company law, competition law, the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) matters.
He has a work experience of over 35 years. He was a special invitee on the Accounting Standards Board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India for the F. Y. 2020-21 and was a special invitee on the Ind AS Transition Facilitation Group Committee of the ICAI for the F.Y. 2019-20.
He has been Co-opted as a Member of the Expert Advisory Committee of the ICAI for the F. Y. 2021-22. He has also participated in the case study based governance program on “Audit Committees in this New Era of Governance” at the Harvard Business School.
At around 12:50 PM, Tata Coffee was trading at Rs212.35 apiece down by Rs2.4 or 1.12% on Sensex.
source: http://www.indiainfoline.com / IIFL Securities / Home> News> Top News / by India InfoLine News Service / July 29th, 2021
Tamil Nadu has exported $ 55 million worth of coffee in year 2020, says a survey by Drip Capital, a global trade finance firm. Most of the exports consist of instant coffee, the company said in a press release on Wednesday.
To retain the growth of their global market share, exporters should continue developing trends in the instant coffee market, the release said. Research indicates that many other States in the country could benefit by following Andhra Pradesh in setting up several coffee processing plants, it said.
While COVID-19 did stir things up in the sector, the survey shows the popularity of the Malabar coffee has increased and its volume of export grew at 7 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the last decade ending 2020 with the value of exports rising at 11 per cent CAGR for the same period.
“The global appreciation for this variety of coffee in the market will help it command a higher price. Already taking advantage of the trend, certain micro coffee estates and roasters are currently trying to tap into this new opportunity on a small, experimental scale. With further aid from the Coffee Board of India and the government, coffee producers in the country could take this highly popular specialty coffee to greater heights, co-founder and CEO of Drip Capital, Pushkar Mukewar, said in the release.
source: http://www.freepressjournal.in / The Free Press Journal / Home> Business / by PTI / July 28th, 2021
Andhra Pradesh, the country’s second-largest exporter of coffee, exported coffee worth $142 million in the financial year 2020-21.
Vijayawada:
Andhra Pradesh, the country’s second-largest exporter of coffee, exported coffee worth $142 million in the financial year 2020-21.
The State government is encouraging the coffee production in Araku valley and other places during the past few years. The share of Andhra Pradesh accounts for more than 50 percent of India’s instant coffee exports.
The State possesses many manufacturing plants that process green coffee beans to instant coffee, which commands a 31 percent share in India’s coffee exports basket.
Drip Capital Inc, a global trade finance company, recently released a report examining the coffee trade across different regions of India. From analysing proprietary and publicly available data, getting insights from coffee exporters in the country, to understanding several emerging market trends brewing in the industry, the report speaks in-depth about the dynamics of the coffee sector.
The coffee exports from this region have been growing at a 3 percent over the past five years. The largest and the most famous coffee-growing region in Andhra Pradesh is Araku valley plantations.
According to the Coffee Board of India, on average, 3100 MT of (mainly) Arabica coffee is harvested from this region. Exports of instant coffee are rising from Andhra Pradesh due to increased export value realisation for the commodity.
Pushkar Mukewar, Co-Founder and CEO, Drip Capital, said, “as a commodity, instant coffee enjoys the product feature of convenience- a quality in high demand and vital to today’s global, fast-paced life. Hence, Indian exporters must stay abreast of developing trends in the instant coffee exports market. Also, to boost India’s overall coffee exports, many other States could benefit from mimicking Andhra Pradesh by setting up several coffee processing plants.”
source: http://www.thehansindia.com / The Hans India / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Hans News Service / July 26th, 2021
Kolkata-based Country Bean has seen 200 percent growth compared to pre-pandemic sales. But competing with venture-backed D2C coffee brands and FMCG biggies is going to be a challenge.
When Aditi Somani Satnaliwala returned home after finishing her undergraduate course from the University of Warwick, England, in 2013, the one thing she missed about her stay abroad was her morning flavoured coffee.
“A good cup of coffee is so important for me and it was so accessible while I was studying abroad. In India, flavoured coffees were not easily available. Even if it was, a common person could not afford to have it every single day because of the prices,” Aditi tells YourStory.
She then started contacting a few suppliers in the UK, who would let her become the supplier of their flavoured coffee. “But that didn’t work out. Many didn’t trust me due to the lack of experience in the import and export field,” she says.
Aditi resorted to experimenting by adding flavours such as caramel and coconut to her instant coffees, and that’s where the wheels for Country Bean started rolling.
Launched in 2017, the Kolkata-based brand offers coffee flavours like caramel, hazelnut, and coconut. Recently, the startup has added more flavours like cocoa mint, berry, and cardamom to its portfolio.
“Some variants, including caramel and vanilla, are our permanent flavours. But we experiment a lot with different flavours during festive and other seasons of the year. Last year, during monsoon, we launched cardamom flavoured coffee, and our customers liked it so much that we ended up putting it on our permanent menu,” says Aditi.
After close to a year of the launch, Aditi’s husband Aneesh Satnaliwala, a former investment banking analyst from Goldman Sachs and founder of multiple startups, joined the direct-to-consumer (D2C) coffee brand as the co-founder.
The business
The startup gets almost 90 percent of its sales from online channels, including its own website, and ecommerce marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart, among others. The remaining 10 percent comes from selling through retail channels such as Future Group’s gourmet grocery store Foodhall.
Country Bean claims to have seen 200 percent growth in business from pre-pandemic levels, with its customer base reaching 2.5 lakh till date from 50,000 customers in the initial days of the business. However, the bootstrapped startup did not reveal the amount invested in the business so far.
Growth during the pandemic
The pandemic has been extremely beneficial for D2C brands as a whole. Locked in consumers had no choice but to shop through online channels, making new brand discovery much easier.
The sector leaders saw improved bottom lines, including cosmetic D2C brand Sugar, which saw its highest sales in November 2020, and D2C baby and mother care brand MamaEarth, which reached a valuation of $300 million after reaching a revenue run rate of Rs 700 crore.
Another Kolkata-based D2C skincare brand Dot and Key, which was launched in 2018, saw 30x growth in the last three years of the business.
Country Bean also saw its repeat purchases reaching 25 percent during the pandemic, and the average order value reaching between Rs 500 to Rs 1,000.
The brand has already started expanding its offerings with Hazelnut Latte and Dalgona spreads, and coffee accessories like milk frother and coffee mugs.
The market and competition
According to Statista, the Indian coffee and tea market grew to Rs 420 billion in 2017 from about Rs 252 billion in 2013.
Country Bean’s proposition might be a unique one, but the brand is operating in a space where the competition is growing consistently.
The flavoured-coffee brand sees competition not just from Rukam Capital-backed Sleepy Owl, Fireside Ventures-backed Slay Coffee, and Blue Tokai Coffee Roosters, but also from FMCG giants.
To capitalise on the increasing online shopping of niche brands, Tata Consumer Pvt. Ltd. launched a premium coffee brand called Tata Sonnets last year for high-income consumers.
While Aditi claims she does not take too much pressure about keeping strict product launch targets, the brand keeps working on five to six products at a time and aims to launch two to three products every quarter, with three to four potential products always in the pipeline. Currently, the brand is working on a few products, including coffee flavours and spreads to launch in the upcoming quarters.
The only way Country Bean can stay ahead in this crowded market is by keeping its offerings fresh and unique.
source: http://www.yourstory.com / Your Story / Home> Start Up / by Prasannata Patwa / July 10th, 2021
White stem borers destroying a coffee plant. Credit: DH Photo
Arabica and Robusta coffee varieties grown in Kodagu are known for their quality.
Robusta variety is grown mostly in Madikeri and Virajpet taluks, while Somwarpet is known for arabica coffee.
The weather of Somwarpet is the best suited for the arabica variety, say the growers.
However, there are a lot of challenges before arabica coffee growers, the major one being the infestation of white stem borer (Xylotrechus quadripes).
The adult borers feed on the stem of the coffee plant and lay eggs inside the stem. Their season of reproduction is the months of March and April. During this period, the stem borers lay eggs on all plants in the coffee plantation.
In Somwarpet taluk, coffee is grown on 28,540 hectares of land. Arabica coffee is grown on 22,940 hectares and robusta is grown on 5,600 hectares.
Many growers have been switching to robusta as arabica is infested by the white stem borer.
Fed up by the borer menace, the plantation owners themselves have been asking the workers to uproot the arabica coffee plants that were nurtured for many years.
A lack of proper control measures is also one of the main reason for the growers to destroy the plants.
The arabica variety of coffee requires more care as compared to robusta. Meanwhile, the labour cost and the production costs are increasing, among other expenses towards manure and fertilisers.
Adding to the problem, the market rate is also disappointing the farmers.
Control measures
Experts have come up with a technique to trap female borer, by using the artificial pheromones of male borer insects, say authorities of the coffee board.
B R Jayendra, a coffee planter from Bettadalli, said that the control measure of white borer is consuming a lot of time, in the existing methods available.
By the time the borers are controlled, almost all plants are destroyed. Effective control measures are needed to save arabica coffee.
Taluk Coffee Growers’ Association president Mohan Bopanna said that the coffee planters are going through difficult times.
Like the Kerala model, the Karnataka government too should announce support price for coffee growers. The loans of coffee growers who are facing difficulties should be waived, he added.
Another coffee planter S M D’Silva from Abburukatte said it is almost impossible to destroy the affected plants at a time.
The small grower will be hit hard if they destroy all coffee saplings in the plantation, he said.
source: http:///www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / by DHNS, Somwarpet / June 28th, 2021
This is the second premium coffee brand launched by TCPL as it plans to strengthen its presence in the coffee market in India.
Food and beverages, which primarily include tea, are two of the strong pillars for TCPL, which took over the consumer facing businesses of Tata Chemicals two years ago. Telegraph picture .
Tata Consumer Products Ltd is going to launch American gourmet coffee brand Eight O’Clock in India next week, 15 years after it acquired the business in the US. TCPL will sell the coffee directly to consumers in India, who can place orders online and get them delivered home.
The Tatas had bought the company, the fourth largest in the roasted and grounded category of coffee in the US, for about Rs 1,015 crore from Gryphon Investors in 2006. Apart from the US, the 102-year old Eight O’Clock coffee brand is also available in Canada and Europe.
This is the second premium coffee brand launched by TCPL, which has brought Starbucks to India through a joint venture, as it plans to strengthen its presence in the coffee market in India.
“I am happy to say that Eight O’Clock coffee will be launched in the D2C (direct-to-consumer) segment next week,” Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons and TCPL, told shareholders at the 58th annual general meeting.
The coffee business in the US grew 7 per cent in volume and 9 per cent in value (constant currency) in 2020-21, Sunil D’Souza, managing director & CEO of the company, later said. Eight O’clock Coffee Ltd, USA had reported a revenue of Rs 1,293 crore in the last fiscal and a profit of Rs 145 crore. The USA is the largest coffee market in the world, estimated at $11 billion.
Earlier this year, TCPL launched Sonnets by Tata Coffee, a premium range of roast and ground coffee, again in the D2C segment.
Responding to a shareholder on the way forward in coffee, the chairman said: “In all our portfolio we are really pushing (for) very strong distribution and market share gain, you are already seeing market share gain in tea and coffee is a long way to go but there is a big opportunity. We will definitely look at significant growth in this segment.”
Food and beverages, which primarily include tea, are two of the strong pillars for TCPL which took over the consumer facing businesses of Tata Chemicals two years ago. Apart from salt, its portfolio now includes pulses, spices, ready-to-cook items, mineral water, and breakfast cereals.
“When we did the integration we had committed synergies of Rs 100-150 crore in 18-24 months. We remain well on track to meet, if not exceed, the quantum and the timing of the synergies that we committed,” D’Souza said during the meeting.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Online / Home>Business / by The Telegraph Correspondent, Calcutta / June 26th, 2021
The company is eyeing the Rs 100 crore artisanal coffee market.
Tata Consumer Products Ltd (TCPL) has introduced a premium roasted and ground coffee under the Sonnets brand targeting urban and increasingly discerning coffee drinkers in India. With this launch, the company is eyeing the Rs 100 crore artisanal coffee market .
The TCPL’s move marks its maiden foray into the Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) market. It will let the company tap a growing number of buyers shopping online, especially during the pandemic when most are cooped indoors and unable to visit cafes and coffee shops.
Puneet Das, President, Packaged Beverages, India & South Asia, Tata Consumer Products Limited, said, “The user can choose the roasting level, grounding and flavors of the coffee which gets delivered to the doorstep of the customer via our delivery channels. We are leveraging both premiumization and home delivery trends through this launch.”
The coffee is produced in Tata Coffee-owned estates. The consumer can choose his preferred roast type from between a light, medium, and a dark roast option, and could also suit his brewing preference and opt for either a filter coffee or a French press grind.
Tata Consumer Products will be expanding the offering to gourmet stores in metro cities as it scales up in the segment.
“Our ambition is to be seen as a serious coffee player just like we have equity in the market with Tata Tea. We aim to have a sizable share in the market as we grow,” Das added.
As the coffee culture evolves, the company will also evaluate new coffee variants like green coffee in India.
source: http://www.indianretailer.com / The Indian Retailer / Home> News / by Vaishnavi Gupta, Features Writer / June 03rd, 2021
Coffee leaf rust on young coffee bushes in Rwanda. An expert advises farmers to grow the crop under shade to provide a conducive environment for a parasite that could control the leaf rust disease. Copyright: CABI
Nairobi :
Coffee farmers should grow the crop under shade to provide a conducive environment for a parasite that could control the fungal disease leaf rust, an expert says.
Coffee leaf rust, caused by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix, is characterised by small yellow spots on upper leaf surfaces and orange powdery lesions on the underside of leaves. Infected leaves eventually drop off, lowering the yield and quality of the crop.
“Shade also creates a conducive environment for the coffee leaf rust hyper-parasite and we need to maximise this potential.”
Beyene Zewdie, Stockholm University
But a study conducted in Ethiopia considered the origin of Arabica coffee, known scientifically as Coffea arabica, shows that a natural enemy that grows on top of leaves infected by the disease could be key to helping farmers fight it.
“The rust is a global challenge for coffee production,” says Beyene Zewdie, a co-author of the study and post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences at Stockholm University, Sweden, adding that it reduces coffee yields by up to 30 per cent.
According to the study published in Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment this month (1 May), researchers analysed both the rust and a fungus that attacks it called Lecanicillium lecanii. Observations were carried out from 2017 to 2019 during the wet and dry seasons in Southwestern Ethiopia.
“We found that coffee leaf rust was more severe during the dry season whereas the hyperparasite [parasite whose host is also a parasite or L. lecanii] was more severe during the wet season in two out of three years,” says the study. “The rust incidence increased with management intensity while the hyperparasite was more common under less intensive management.”
Zewdie says the research could help shed light on the relationship between the rust and the hyperparasite, and to manage the two.
“We also found a slight variation in the environmental requirement of the rust and the hyperparasite,” Zewdie tells SciDev.Net. “The rust can thrive in low moisture conditions whereas the hyperparasite favours areas characterised by moist and shaded habitats.”
Zewdie says most farmers in the study area perceive coffee leaf rust as a less important disease because although severe coffee leaf rust infestation leads to leaf-drop, coffee shrubs normally get back the leaves during the next wet season.
But he cautions that the loss of leaves can have a negative effect on the performance of the plant, and says shade would help mitigate the damage.
“Coffee needs shade and growing the crop under shade could buffer the microclimate around the coffee shrubs,” he tells SciDev.Net. “Shade also creates a conducive environment for the coffee leaf rust hyperparasite and we need to maximise this potential to make use of the capacity of the hyperparasite to suppress the rust in areas where the two interacting species co-occur.”
Bernard Mukiri Gichimu, a senior lecturer at Kenya’s University of Embu, Department of Agricultural Resource Management, who was not involved in the study, says that the findings could be important for farmers.
“The discovery of L. lecanii as a hyperparasite against the coffee rust fungus in a natural environment is a major breakthrough that may have a significant contribution in the management of the coffee leaf rust,” says Gichimu. “With climate change, the disease has become even more damaging … even in areas that were hitherto known to be less prone to the disease.”
Mukiri adds that using the natural enemy to fight the disease may be preferable to fungicides which can fail to control the disease either due to poor quality or handling or resistance of the disease-causing agent to fungicide.
“Reduced use of fungicides will also reduce environmental pollution which will be beneficial to the non-target organisms and safe to both the farmers and coffee consumers,” he says.
This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.
source: http://www.scidev.net / Sci Dev Net / Home> Agriculture> News / by Nelson Mandela Ogema / May 24th, 2021
The coffee tree flowering process begins in late March ahead of the rainy season. The process takes between three to four days. (Supplied)
The coffee tree flowering process begins in late March ahead of the rainy season
Jeddah :
Coffee farms in the mountainous governorates of the Jazan region were covered in white after the flowering of the coffee trees, exhibiting signs of abundant production during this year’s season.
Coffee production is an important economic sector in the region, and enjoys special care by the Kingdom’s leadership. It is part of the Jazan region’s heritage, and is a crucial source of income for the residents of the mountainous areas, which are the homeland of the Khawlani coffee beans, whose production has increased by 70 percent in recent years.
The Saudi Press Agency’s camera caught pictures of the agricultural terraces in Al-Dayer Bani Malik blossoming with white coffee flowers that have a wonderful smell among the magnificent backdrop of the mountainous landscapes.
The coffee tree flowering process begins in late March ahead of the rainy season. The process takes between three to four days.
The flowering process is completed and coffee beans are formed and enter a six-month period until being harvested. This is considered a crucial period, as the coffee trees need to be irrigated with rainfalls in a timely way, while receiving adequate care from the farmers.
The flowering period is critical as it provides the farmers with an indicator about the volume of crops, according to the strength or weakness of the trees and the intensity of flowers on the branches, which entails further consideration by farmers, to ensure having abundant crops during harvest.
source: http://www.arabnews.com / Arab News / Home / by SPA / May 21st, 2021
Launched 3 years ago, Levista is eyeing expansion in south India, Mumbai and Delhi
S. Shriram, vice-president-sales and marketing at Levista
Coorg in Karnataka, is among the foremost coffee growing regions in India. SLN, a three-decade old coffee plantation company in the region is now aiming to grab a slice of the Rs 2,200-crore annual packaged coffee market, which is dominated by big players like Nestle (Nescafe), Hindustan Unilever (Bru) and Tata Coffee.
SLN launched its own brand of coffee called Levista three years ago and has ever since expanded to 40,000 retail outlets, predominantly in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It has now set its sights on expanding across other markets, starting with the rest of south India.
“Of the Rs 2,200 crore market annually, over 80 per cent of the coffee consumption happens in the five southern states and Union territories. Therefore, we aim to reach a significant market share here rather than being sparsely spread all over the place,” S. Shriram, vice-president sales and marketing at Levista, told THE WEEK.
“At the moment, we have a deep presence in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. We launched our coffee in Goa in February and business is growing steadily. We will be entering the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana market by Sankranti and will penetrate deeper in there. Kerala will follow next.”
The company has the markets of Mumbai and Delhi-National Capital Region on the radar, too, however, it has not finalised a launch date yet, added Shriram.
Levista is also available on online platforms, including Amazon and it is also scaling up on other e-commerce platforms to reach a wider audience.
“Players like Big Basket have also aided our brand coverage, as has Flipkart. We have been recently on boarded through Udaan that reaches small retailers as well as hyperlocal players MilkBasket,” said Shriram.
While south India has a strong tradition of filter coffee, the rest of the country has largely been a tea drinking market. However, things have started changing with penetration of cafes like Cafe Coffee Day and Starbucks in the last decade. International coffee brands like Lavazza are also expanding in the country, buoyed by rising coffee consumption here.
“There is a huge scope for us to grow. The coffee market has been growing steadily. Out of home coffee consumption through cafes has already hit a pan-India presence and thanks to this familiarity, more new consumers are sipping coffee at home, through packaged coffee,” noted Shriram.
Levista’s parent SLN currently has a capacity upwards of 50,000 metric tonne per annum, and Shriram says the company will be able to produce enough coffee for the domestic market as well as for exports.
Talking of exports, the brand is already present in Singapore, Malaysia, Middle East, Maldives and Sri Lanka, reaching out to the south Indian consumers in these markets. The company intends to have a larger international presence next year, added Shriram.
source: http://www.theweek.in / The Week / Home> News> Business / by Nachiket Kelkar / November 20th, 2020
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