NEW DELHI: Coffee Day Enterprises has appointed Malavika Hegde as CEO of the company. She has been the non-executive director of the organisation and will assume the new role starting 7 December.

The company announced the development in a BSE filing.

Hegde is former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna's daughter and the wife of late V G Siddhartha, the Cafe Coffee Day founder and CEO who died due to drowning in 2019.

Siddhartha, who was dubbed the coffee baron of India, was widely recognised for having brought the coffee shop culture to a largely tea-loving country. However, the success story of Cafe Coffee Day came to an ignominious turning point when the founder plunged to his death in the Nethravathi river in an apparent suicide, raising speculations that the company was in dire financial straits.

Cafe Coffee Day runs hundreds of coffee shops across India that brew cappuccinos and lattes for Indians. It was launched in 1996 and is present in over 200 plus cities. It competes with big players such as Starbucks Corp, Barista, Costa Coffee and others.