Coffee king Siddhartha's death exposes India's mounting debt crisis

Siddhartha's death marks a tragic turn for an admired member of India's business elite and an executive closely connected to the highest echelons of the political sphere

Even before the body of coffee-chain tycoon V.G. Siddhartha was recovered from a river in southern India this week, the financial strains that appear to have led him to take his own life were beginning to emerge.

A letter purportedly written and signed by Siddhartha and sent to senior management of Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd. laid out in stark words his struggles with a “serious liquidity crunch” that in turn had led to "tremendous pressure" from lenders and an unnamed private-equity investor.

“I would like to say I gave it my all,” Siddhartha wrote. “I am very sorry to let