In India, there is an obvious lack of care for the quality of coffee (IMO). I found a few vendors to supply me beans, but it take time to find the right ones, mostly from a region called Coorg famous for it's coffee beans. I've been there and went to look at the coffee plantations and processing ( Chikmagalur is the also very common if you know India well). I love my coffee and take it seriously.
In India, coffee is typically packaged with a mix of chicory. Chicory is a root, that is meant to preserve the coffee longer. In the end, it's also way cheaper to make produce chicory, so the production cost is lower. I personally hate chicory with my coffee as it gives a weird "non coffee" taste to it.
What I've found ( anecdotally ), is that an often my conception of "good" or even "ok" coffee doesn't align with a typical India. Nescafe doesn't cut it. Sorry. And how Indians typically enjoy coffee ( with tons of milk and sugar ), always made me put coffee in almost the "dessert" category. When I try to share my coffee with them, it is usually wayyy too bitter for their preference. Of course, I know exceptions that like a good roast.
A few coffee bean shops have popped up to change the culture here: Blue Tokai being one of the more premium and popular coffee places. I live next to a coffee consulting business and visit them regularly. So it is growing. Starbucks is here as well, but WAY too overpriced relative to quality and local shops that do just as good a brew. A good, cup of coffee here at a premium place (Bangalore) is around 140-210 RS (or 2-3 dollars). A normal (Indian) cup of coffee costs 15-30 RS (or $0.20-0.50).
As much as I rag on Indian coffee sometimes with my friends and family (I'm married to an Indian), every once in a while I find myself picking up a cup of "sugar milk with coffee" on the street.Maybe there's something to it....