Context- India’s tea industry is going through challenges reminiscent of the “dark phase” of 2002-07, calling for introspection and resilience.
Challenges faced by Indian Tea Industry
- Increased input price: The tea prices accelerated at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 4% during the last decade, however the value of inputs like gasoline and coal grew at a CAGR of 9-15%.
- Demand-supply gap: The rise in small tea growers and so forth manufacturing, isn’t in percentage with the home intake and exports, leading to surplus production.
- Weak exports: The Iran marketplace constitutes nearly 20% of general tea exports from India and there is decline of exports to Iran because of the payment issues causing financial stress to the exporters.
- A decline in average export demand because of surplus in the global markets, brought about an international price crash.
- Nepal’s gardens: Unhampered and smooth inflow of substandard tea from neighboring countries, mainly Nepal” is jeopardizing the tea enterprise of India.
- Other factors: Stagnant prices, concentration of marketplace strength among a few key gamers, and a decline in the quality of teas to make the beverage extra low priced and so on have been recognized as main elements.
Geographical Condition for Tea production
- The tea plant grows properly in tropical and subtropical climates. Tea bushes require a warm and wet frost-loose climate throughout the 12 months.
- Soil: It requires deep and fertile well-drained soil, rich in humus and organic matter.
- Temperature: The average annual temperature for tea flowers to grow well is inside the variety of 15-23°C.
- Precipitation: The rainfall needed is between 150-200 cm. Frequent showers evenly distributed over the year ensure continuous growth of tender leaves.
- Major tea producing states are Assam, hills of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
- Apart from these, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh and Tripura also are tea-generating states within the country.
Indian Tea Industry
- India is the 2nd biggest tea producer and biggest black tea producer.
- Indian teas are exported to diverse destinations like Iran, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Russia etc. and is the 4th largest tea exporter in the World.
- The Indian tea Industry employs 1.16 million workers directly and an equal number of people are associated with it indirectly.
- Assam grows approximately 55% of the tea produced in India. India’s tea production has increased by 39% in 2022 from 2008.
Tea Board of India
- The Tea Board of India is functioning as a statutory body of the Central Government under the Ministry of Commerce.
- It was mounted by using the enactment of the Tea Act in 1953, to promote the cultivation, processing, and home exchange in addition to export of tea from India.
- Headquarters: Kolkata, West Bengal
Steps taken by Indian Government
- The Tea Board of India had devised a scheme of “Assistance of training stipend to the wards of Small Tea Growers” to enhance their livelihood and schooling wishes.
- The Government of India through the Tea Board had helped in the formation of 352 Self Help Group (SHG), 440 Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) and 17 Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs).
- A mobile app, “Chai Sahyog”, is being developed to help Small Tea Growers in terms of better price realization and information.
Way Ahead
- The Government desires to intervene by providing better export infrastructure, completely defraying State obligations with the aid of growing the RoDTEP (Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Products) fee and reducing the hobby charge on borrowings to make Indian tea manufacturers/exporters more aggressive within the international marketplace.
- Steps are needed to regulate tea waste inside the domestic market at lower prices, restricting import of poor-quality teas, and promotion of tea emphasizing its health benefits.
Source: The Hindu
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