All eyes are on India as its annual coffee exports continue to increase. Vidya Coffee Founder Shyamprasad Kodimule details his ambitions to help make it one of the world’s top three producers and his brand the biggest exporter in the country.
India is hot on the heels of the coffee industry’s major players. While in the 2024/25 harvest the country was ranked as the world’s seventh largest producer – growing just four per cent of global coffee that season compared with leaders Brazil (37 per cent), Vietnam (17 per cent), and Colombia (eight per cent) – over the past decade its exports have grown significantly.
In June 2025, the Coffee Board of India published data revealing 25 per cent year-on-year growth of coffee exports for the first half of 2025/26. In the past 11 years, exports have shot up 125 per cent – with US$800 million recorded in 2014/15 compared to US$1.26 billion in 2023/24.
As part of the Board’s 10-year roadmap, it aims to double the country’s production by 2034 which, if production remains unchanged for other countries, would see India leapfrog Indonesia into fourth place. Shyamprasad Kodimule, Founder and President of full spectrum producer Vidya Coffee, believes the Indian coffee industry has the potential to exceed the Board’s ambitions and become one of the world’s top three producers.
“India should be reaching for the number two or three position. We are progressing well and there are a lot of opportunities for expansion,” says Kodimule.
“Nearly all coffee in India is shade grown, which makes it quite unique. What’s more, the country is huge, so we have many different climatic conditions producing a vast range of beans with distinct flavour profiles.”
Kodimule says the country’s recent production success comes down to a number of factors, including the work of the Coffee Board and the knowledge of the farming communities.
“The Coffee Board creates a very organised production system. It also provides a lot of benefits for farmers, including sharing guidance on cultivation techniques, disease prevention, and reduction of pesticides,” he says.
“We’re also seeing a big rise in domestic consumption of coffee in India, which is a good thing for production here. We have a very educated population who are not just looking for commodity coffee but also organic, Rainforest Alliance, and specialty beans. Farmers are therefore showing more interest in producing these high-quality products to cater to both the domestic and international markets.”
The road to the top Currently the fourth largest producer and exporter of green beans in India, Kodimule has his sights set on the top spot for Vidya Coffee.
“We are aiming to be the largest coffee producer in the country in the next two years. Alongside growth, quality and consistency are our top priorities to provide our customers with a stable supply chain,” he says.
Vidya Coffee, a sub-brand of phytonutrients producer Vidya Group, has seen huge development since it was established in 2014. While the company started out as an exporter of green beans, it now offers full-spectrum coffee production.
It has its own estates in Chikmagalur and a team sourcing from the rest of the country and internationally, as well as facilities dedicated to post-harvest processing, roasting, and instant-coffee production. The company recently introduced a new production facility in Belur, Karnataka, to boost its instant output – an arm of the business that has been a major focus over the past five years.
As well as expanding Vidya’s production capacity by 40,000 tonnes per year, the facility has introduced more than 500 new jobs for the local community.
“The new facility is located in one of the region’s most rural areas. It is a strong farming community, so we hope to be able to contribute to the local economy and provide jobs for farming families,” says Kodimule.
“Within the facility, we focus on instant coffee production. At the moment, we use the spray drying method but will soon be using the freeze-dried method for about half of our production.
“We have a team of 50 scientists who are constantly monitoring the quality of our products through sensory evaluation, high-performance liquid chromatography, and microbiology labs.”
Functional focus As part of Vidya Coffee’s expansion into instant production and private-label services, the team have also introduced a new line of products that cater to the functional beverages market. The range includes instant coffees blended with health-based ingredients including collagen, protein, cinnamon, liquorice root, turmeric, vanilla, and multivitamins.
“An increasing number of consumers are looking for beverages that can support their health. Instead of taking a pill, they can now get the benefits of things such as multivitamins and protein in their coffee. Being a health brand with more than 20 years in the industry, we have the advantage of already having the experience and the technology,” says Kodimule.
“We’re seeing interest in these functional products in both the local and international markets. There’s huge awareness in places such as Europe and the United States.”
Sustainability is another area in which Vidya has identified consumer interest. As such, the brand is focusing on clean energy use, recyclable packaging, and traceable sourcing.
“Sustainability is the backbone of our company. We work in a sector in which traceability is a crucial factor, and we want to create a positive environment for our coffee farmers and the wider population,” says Kodimule.
“We are partnering with farmers to find ways they can make more money while also being more sustainable. For example, rerouting coffee pulp into bioethanol. For our own products, we’re exploring recyclable packaging and other ways to reduce waste.”
Roots in green coffee While the company continues to explore new product innovation as part of its growth strategy to become India’s top producer, it hasn’t forgotten about its roots in green coffee processing and exporting.
Vidya offers a range of Robusta and Arabica beans, including specialty-grade coffees, directly from its estates to global buyers. “We export 100 per cent of our green beans, mainly to Europe, the Middle East, and Korea,” says Kodimule.
“There is an increased interest among growers to produce specialty-grade beans for these markets. There’s particular interest in the ‘monsoon’ coffees from the Mangaluru region, which are grown in the humid, coastal atmosphere.”
The business currently processes about 20,000 tonnes of green coffee each year in India, with an additional 5000 tonnes of African coffee processed at its facility in Uganda.
“Demand is continuing to increase for Indian coffee. More and more people want to get into coffee farming as they’ve seen how it can make some farmers rich. Unlike places such as Brazil and Vietnam, we are not so susceptible to extreme climate conditions – generally in India everything is a lot more stable,” Kodimule says.
“The Coffee Board of India is encouraging farmers in northern regions such as Assam, Meghalaya, and Tripura to take up coffee and they’re taking it very seriously. I think the output will only increase over the next few years.”
For more information, visit vidyacoffee.com
his article was first published in the September/October 2025 edition of Global Coffee Report. Read more HERE.
