Special fund to revive ailing tea industry in Assam Guwahati, November 08

The Union commerce ministry is considering setting up of a special purpose tea fund to revive the ailing tea industry in Assam and elsewhere. Under the project the tea industry will undergo massive rejuvenation and re-plantation program.

While inaugurating 40th annual General meeting of the Tea association of India in Kolkata, Minister of Commerce and Industry Mr. Kamal Nath recently remarked that a major stepping up of the rate of re-plantation and rejuvenation is the key to competitiveness of the Indian tea. Over 2 lakh hectares of low yielding areas were to be targeted for re-plantation and rejuvenation. The detailed costing and modalities of funding such a large program are being worked out.

Dwelling on the problems facing the tea industry, officials in the commerce ministry noted that the
industry in India have been passing through a crisis for the last several years on account of consistent depression in prices in both domestic and international markets, a situation that was further compounded by rising cost of production, low productivity due to aging tea bushes and sluggish growth in domestic demand for tea.

Outlining various measures taken by the government through the Tea Board to infuse new lease of life to the tea industry, the official said that quality and quality alone could make Indian tea competitive and sought after, given that supply of tea at the global level exceeded the demand.