CCL Products becomes $1-billion company now

Hyderabad: Starting its journey with a small coffee processing unit at Duggirala in Andhra Pradesh and growing steadily thereafter for next 28 years, city-based CCL Products (India)Ltd has now become a billion-dollar company in market capitalization (mcap).

Founded in 1995 by Challa Rajendra Prasad, CCL Products is an Indian multinational, and is also the world’s largest private label coffee manufacturer with roots in Andhra Pradesh, India.

Formerly Continental Coffee Limited, CCL initially focused on coffee exports and contract manufacturing. Prasad identified the untapped potential of Indian-grown coffee being exported without value addition. To address this, he established an instant coffee plant, adding value by converting green coffee beans into high-quality instant coffee.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Challa Rajendra Prasad, Founder and Chairman, CCL Products India Ltd, said: “30 years ago when I saw that Indian coffee beans were being exported as raw materials, I thought why shouldn’t we do the value addition in our own country and then export the finished products? This way, our country will earn more foreign exchange and, in the process, generate more employment as well. With this objective, I started Continental Coffee Ltd. and set up our first factory at Duggirala”. Thereafter, CCL embarked on an aggressive capacity expansion. From 3,000 tonnes per annum (TPA), the company expanded its capacity to 55,000TPAin the last 28 years.