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Shri Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, has said that a Small Growers Development Agency for the tea sector will be set up shortly. Addressing a meeting convened by him here today with Members of Parliament representing the tea growing regions of the country, Shri Kamal Nath said that modalities of this agency to be formed under the Tea Board of India would be finalised soon. There are around 1,23,279 small tea gardens spread over all the tea growing states of India, viz., Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Tripura, Karnataka, Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh, besides the non-traditional North Eastern States and in Orissa and Bihar were tea cultivation has been introduced in the recent past. Together, these small gardens represent over 98% of all growers in the tea sector with a share of over 21% in India’s tea production.
Shri Kamal Nath further indicated that a special package for tea by utilising Re. 1 per kg. of additional excise duty on tea would be finalised soon and the package would be taken to the Cabinet for approval shortly. Apart from this, a comprehensive package largely for replantation/ rejuvenation of old tea bushes was also under preparation with a view to increasing productivity of the tea sector in India, Shri Kamal Nath said, adding that Chief Ministers of the tea growing states would be consulted before finalising the package which would incorporate suggestions received from MPs at today’s meeting. He emphasised the need to take a holistic view of the problems of tea industry arising out of decline in prices, low productivity, need for greater export thrust etc. “A comprehensive long-term policy for Indian tea and not just piecemeal solution to immediate problems is the answer”, he said.
Shri Santosh Mohan Deb, Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Shri Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, Minister of State for Water Resources, Shri E.V.K.S. Elangovan, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry and Shri B.K. Handique, Minister of State for Defence and Parliamentary Affairs participated along with 18 other MPs viz., S/Shri N.N. Krishna Das, K. Francis George, W. Wangyuh, Vanlal Zawma, N.C. Borkatky, T.K. Hamza, Abdulla Kutty, M. Appadurai, Dawa Narsula, Joachim Baxla, P.C. Thomas, M.K. Subba, R. Prabhu, M.P. Veerandra Kumar, P. Rajendran, Varkala Radhakrishnan, Lalit Mohan Suklabaidya and Ms. Pratibha Singh. Shri S.N. Menon, Commerce Secretary, Shri Abhijit Sengupta, Additional Secretary and Shri N.K. Das were also present
Welcoming the initiative taken by the Minister to convene a meeting with MPs on tea which is one of India’s important agricultural plantation crops providing gainful employment to over a million workers, Members discussed various issues relating improving productivity, review of plantation labour act, quality upgradation for both domestic production and export and issues relating to export-import management for the tea sector.
India is not only the largest producer but also the largest consumer of tea in the world. India accounts for around 14% of the world trade in tea. Indian tea is exported in various forms such as bulk tea, packet tea, tea bags, instant tea etc., to more than 80 countries of the world. Major importers of Indian tea are Russian Federation, UK, UAE, Poland, Kazakhstan, USA, Germany, Iraq, Japan etc. Tea is imported into India mainly for the purpose of re-export after value-addition. More than 95% of the imported tea is re-exported. The total import of only about 2% of the domestic production of tea.
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