STIMULATING GROWTH. S Srudheep, MD, and (right) P Sivanantham, Chairman, Narasu’s Coffee

In a tea-drinking nation like India, coffee may be finally having its moment. Whether it is filter coffee for the purists or instant coffee for the hustlers, or a ₹250 cold brew in a chic café, Indians are consuming more coffee than ever before, and coffee companies are racing to keep pace.

Betting on this shift, Tamil Nadu’s very own ‘besh! besh!’ Narasu’s Coffee, a familiar fixture in south Indian kitchens for years, is brewing a change in its 100th year.

Narasu’s launched in 1926, named after the founder, V Lakshmi Narasimhan (called Narasu by all). The company’s headquarters in Salem, which was inaugurated by President VV Giri, still stands tall, housing its corporate office and the coffee roasting and grinding plants.

In 1966, the company was auctioned and acquired by a partnership firm headed by RP Sarathy and comprising his family members. After a round of family settlements, the management was entrusted to Sarathy’s son Sivanantham P (the current chairman) and grandson Srudheep S, who is managing director.

Instant shift

In keeping with the times, the legacy brand has had a makeover. Although known for its pure blend (without chicory), the company is no longer confined to the aromatic ‘davara tumbler’ filter coffee, but caters to every taste bud — roasted-and-ground coffee powder, chicory blends, instant coffee mix, liquid decoction, premix packs, tea, and even a range of food products.

“We started from filter coffee, became one of the largest producers and retailers of pure coffee. Then, when the market evolved, we have provided whatever the consumer asks,” says Sivanantham.

Narasu’s is particularly popular for its iconic small stores, where one stands outside as the shopkeeper scoops up the correct measure of coffee powder and proceeds to seal the warm packet.

For today’s generation of consumers, Narasu’s is adding convenience to this nostalgia. Its stores now resemble mini-supermarkets stocking all its offerings under one roof.

“The appearance of our stores may change but we are grounded to our core offering — the quality of the coffee,” Sivanantham stresses.

Currently, in the roasted-and-ground (R&G) segment the brand has a market share of 40-45 per cent in Tamil Nadu. In the highly competitive instant coffee space, it holds 10-15 per cent share.

Smell the coffee

A walk through the R&G plant in Salem is not just an olfactory delight but also a revelation of the company’s fierce focus on quality. “We have a policy of ‘farm-to-shelf in 24 hours’,” says Srudheep.

The inflection point was the firm’s entry into the instant coffee space in 2002.

Global coffee makers were already in play in this category, but it was a bold bet for the company, the Chairman says, which has since paid off. “It opened up exports for us,” he says, recalling a time when monthly shipments to Russia touched about 17 tonnes in the early days of the plant.

Cut to today, almost 50 per cent of revenue comes from exports across 45 countries, including the US, Europe, the UAE, and Singapore.

“Indian coffee has a distinct taste profile and is being preferred in export markets. Besides the countries with a large Indian diaspora, we are seeing new markets opening up, such as Nigeria and Iceland,” Srudheep says.

As Sunalini Menon, president of Coffee Lab consultancy, says, filter coffee is no longer confined to the South and is a pan-India phenomenon. “Even the younger generation wants to drink filter coffee, but maybe not by making it with a conventional filter,” she points out.

Narasu’s is staying relevant with its packaging innovation, and has done well in Tamil Nadu, she adds. “Flamboyancy is not their style and they have done well to balance the traditional vs modern customer,” she notes.

But the journey is not without challenges.

The coffee industry is seeing a drastic transformation in both consumptions patters and branding. Chains like Third Wave and Blue Tokai are giving a tough fight to legacy players, which are forced to reinvent to capture new-generation consumers. “We have plans for products like drip coffee, where you just open the sachet, put it in a cup and pour hot water,” says Srudheep.

Additionally, coffee seed prices, linked to the commodity markets, pose a key challenge for Narasu’s, which buys from coffee estates in India, and global hubs such as Vietnam and Indonesia.

High caffeine

With a piping hot coffee market, one may think it’s time for accelerated growth, but the quintessential TN enterprise that it is, Narasu’s is comfortable with its current ambitions.

“We are not looking for any financing at the moment,” the patriarch says. “We have limits from banks but are not utilising even that; We had a lot of opportunity [for external investments] but did not want that,” he says, choosing instead to preserve the culture he has built with his 1,000-plus employees.

And given that the brand has stood the test of time on the foundations of this familial culture, he may have a point. After all, who can forget the iconic endorsement “Coffee-na Narasu’s Coffee thaan. Besh! besh! Romba nalla irukku” in a pioneering ad that captivated Tamil households in the 1980s. But can that transcend the decades to capture GenNext coffee lovers?

Perhaps it’s time for a “lit lit” Narasu’s anthem for GenZ?

(The writer was in Salem at the invitation of Narasu’s)

Published on June 8, 2026