Tea Industry in India

Tea leaves
Tea isnt simply tea in India but it is like a staple beverage here and a day without it is impossible
and incomplete. Indians prefer their steaming cup of tea because for them it acts as an energy
booster and is simply indispensable. This popular beverage has a lot of health benefits too as its
antioxidants help to eliminate toxins and free radicals from the blood.
Originally tea is indigenous to the Eastern and Northern parts of India, but the tea industry has
expanded and grown tremendously over the years, making India the largest grower and producer
of tea in the world. The tea production in India was 979,000 tonnes as of 2009. In terms of
consumption, export and production of tea, India is the world leader. It accounts for 31% of the
global production of tea. India has retained its leadership over the tea industry for the last 150
years. The total turnover of this industry is roughly Rs.10, 000 crores. Since 1947, the tea
production in India has increased by 250% and the land are used for production has increased by
40%.
Even the export sector of India has experienced an increase in the export of this commodity. The
total net foreign exchange in India is roughly Rs.1847 crores per annum. The tea industry in
India is labor intensive, meaning it depends heavily on human labor instead of machines. This
industry provides employment to more than 1.1 million Indian workers and almost half the
workforce constitutes of women.

Beautiful tea fields

There is a wide variety of tea offered by India; from Green Tea to CTC tea to the aromatic
Darjeeling tea and the strong Assamese tea, the range of tea available in India is unparalleled.
Indians take a lot of pride in their tea industry because of the pre-eminence of the industry as a
significant earner of foreign exchange and a significant contributor to Indias GNP.
The three prominent tea-growing regions in India are Darjeeling, Assam and Nilgiri. While
Darjeeling and Assam are located in the Northeast regions, Nilgiri is a part of the southern region
of the country. A visit to these regions is made truly memorable by the endless rolling carpets of
green which are the tea gardens and one cannot but help feeling enthralled and captivated at the
sight of the huge tea estates. Majority of the tea factories are located within the premises of the
tea estates and this is what accounts for the freshness of the tea. The process of tea production
has a series of procedures and processes. The process starts with the plucking of tea leaves in the
tea estates by women employees carrying a basket over the head and ends with the production of
the ultimate tea.
There are mainly two ways of producing tea in India namely the CTC production and Orthodox
production. CTC is an acronym for crush, tear and curl. The tea produced by this method is
mostly used in tea bags. The orthodox production method consists of five stages, namely

withering, rolling, fermentation, drying and finally storing. It is not possible to compare the two
varieties because their quality depends on factors such as rainfall, soil, wind and the method of
plucking of tea leaves and both possess a unique charm of their own.
As the primary producer of an assortment of tea, India is the ideal destination for all tea
enthusiasts.

History of tea in India

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The cultivation and brewing of tea in India has a long history. Commercial production of tea in
India begins with the arrival of the British East India Company, at which point large tracts of
land were converted for mass tea production.[1] The widespread popularity of tea as a recreational
drink begins in the 1950s, after a successful advertising campaign by the India Tea Board.[1]
Today, India is one of the largest tea producers in the world, though over 70% of the tea is
consumed within India itself. A number of renowned teas, such as Assam and Darjeeling, also
grow exclusively in India. The Indian tea industry has grown to own many global tea brands, and
has evolved to one of the most technologically equipped tea industries in the world. Tea
production, certification, exportation, and all other facets of the tea trade in India is controlled by
the Tea Board of India.
Contents
[hide]

1 History

2 Modern tea production in India

3 Government and the Indian tea industry

4 Demand for a Separate Time Zone

5 In popular culture

6 See also

7 References

History[edit]

Tea was first introduced into India by the British, in an attempt to break the Chinese monopoly
on tea.[1] The British, "using Chinese seeds, plus Chinese planting and cultivating techniques,
launched a tea industry by offering land in Assam to any European who agreed to cultivate tea
for export."[1] Maniram Dewan (1806-1858) was the first Indian tea planter.[2]
Tea was originally only consumed by Anglicized Indians, and it was not until the 1950s that tea
grew widely popular in India through a successful advertising campaign by the India Tea Board.
[3]
Prior to the British, the plant may have been used for medicinal purposes. Some cite the

Sanjeevani tea plant first recorded reference of tea use in India. However, studies have shown
that Sanjeevani plant was likely a plant unrelated to the tea plant (Camellia sinensis) and more
likely refers to either Selaginella bryopteris or Desmotrichum fimbriatum.[4]
In the early 1820s, the British East India Company began large-scale production of tea in Assam,
India, of a tea variety traditionally brewed by the Singpho tribe. In 1826, the British East India
Company took over the region from the Ahom kings through the Yandaboo Treaty. In 1837, the
first English tea garden was established at Chabua in Upper Assam; in 1840, the Assam Tea
Company began the commercial production of tea in the region, run by indentured servitude of
the local inhabitants. Beginning in the 1850s, the tea industry rapidly expanded, consuming vast
tracts of land for tea plantations. By the turn of the century, Assam became the leading tea
producing region in the world.[5]
Writing in The Cambridge World History of Food', Weisburger & Comer write:
"The tea cultivation begun there [India] in the nineteenth century by the British, however, has
accelerated to the point that today India is listed as the world's leading producer, its 715,000 tons
well ahead of China's 540,000 tons, and of course, the teas of Assam, Ceylon (from the island
nation known as Sri Lanka), and Darjeeling are world famous. However, because Indians
average half a cup daily on per capita basis, fully 70 percent of India's immense crop is
consumed locally."
Modern tea production in India[edit]

India was the top producer of tea for nearly a century, but recently China has overtaken India as
the top tea producer due to increased land availability. Indian tea companies have acquired a
number of iconic foreign tea enterprises including British brands Tetley and Typhoo. India is also
the world's largest tea-drinking nation. However, the per capita consumption of tea in India
remains a modest 750 grams per person every year due to the large population base and high
chhass(A milk product) consumption.
Recently the consumption of Green tea has seen a great growth potential in India. The market is
growing by over 50% y-o-y[6] and is expected to reach a size of INR 6000 crore form its current
size in year 2013 of approx. INR 1500 crore.This is primarily driven by the increasing disposable
income of middle class Indian, who are willing to spend more money on their personal health
and well being. The major tea-producing states in India are: Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu,
Kerala, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Sikkim, Nagaland,
Uttarakhand, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Bihar, Orissa.
Government and the Indian tea industry[edit]

The Indian tea industry as the second largest employer in the country has enjoyed the attention of
the Indian government. When export sales went down, the government has been sympathetic to
the demand of the industry and its cultivators. It has passed resolutions supporting the industry
domestically and has also lobbied extensively with organizations like the WTO internationally.
The Indian administration along with the European Union and six other countries (Brazil, Chile,
Japan, South Korea and Mexico) filed a complaint with the WTO against the Byrd Amendment
which was formally known as the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 legislated
by the US. The essence of this act was that non-US firms which sell below cost price in the US
could be fined and the money given to the US companies who made the complaint in the first
place. The act adversely affected the commodities business of the complainant states and has
since been repealed after WTO ruled the act to be illegal.
Furthermore, the Indian government took cognizance of the changed tea and coffee market and
set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) to look into their problems in late 2003. The IMC
has recommended that the government share the financial burden of plantation industry on
account of welfare measures envisaged for plantation workers mandated under the Plantation
Labour Act 1951. Moreover, IMC has recommended to introduce means so that the agricultural
income tax levied by the state governments can be slashed and the tea industry be made
competitive. It has recommended that sick or bankrupt plantation estates should be provided with
analogous level of relaxation for similarly placed enterprises/estates as are available to industries
referred to BIFR.
A Special Tea Term Loan (STTL) for the tea sector was announced by the Indian government in
2004. It envisaged restructuring of irregular portions of the outstanding term/working capital
loans in the tea sector with repayment over five to seven years and a moratorium of one year,
which was to be on a case to case basis for large growers. The STTL also provides for working
capital up to Rs. 2 lakhs at a rate not exceeding 9% to small growers.
In addition to these measures, the Tea Board plans to launch a new marketing initiative, which
will include foray into new markets such as Iran, Pakistan, Vietnam and Egypt. It also plans to
renew its efforts in traditional markets like Russia, the UK, Iraq and UAE. Noteworthy is its
intent to double tea exports to Pakistan within a year.
Assam Orthodox Tea is set to receive the Geographical Indications (GI) exclusivity. A GI stamp
identifies a certain product as emanating from the territory of a WTO member or region or
locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is
essentially attributable to its geographic origin.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs set up the Special Purpose Tea Fund (SPTF) under
the tea Board on December 29, 2006. The aim is to fund replantation and rejuvenation (R&R)

programme. In the same year, Tata Tea entered into an agreement to take over Jemca, which
controls a 26 percent market share in the Czech Republic.
The CCEA gave its approval for pegging the subsidy at 25 per cent and adoption of a funding
pattern of 25 per cent promoter's contribution, 25 per cent subsidy from the government and 50
per cent loan from the SPTF. Banks have also been instructed to increase the lending period to
over 13 years.
In 2013 , Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry chose five countries which account for 42
per cent of the total tea exported from India US, Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran and Egypt , for
intensive promotional intervention through five specific activities over five years. [7]
Demand for a Separate Time Zone[edit]

Tea gardens in Assam do not follow the Indian Standard Time (IST), which is the time observed
throughout India and Sri Lanka. The local time in Assam's tea gardens, known as 'Tea Garden
Time' or Bagantime, is an hour ahead of the IST.[8] The system was introduced during British
days keeping in mind the early sunrise in this part of the country.
By and large, the system has been successful in increasing the productivity of tea garden workers
as they save on daylight by finishing the work during daytime. Working time for tea labourers in
the gardens is generally between 9 a.m. (IST 8 a.m.) to 5 p.m. (IST 4p.m.) It may vary slightly
from garden to garden.
Noted film maker Jahnu Barua has been campaigning for a separate time zone for the north east
region.[8]
In popular culture[edit]

Sagina Mahato, a 1970 Bengali film, directed by Tapan Sinha, deal with labour rights in the tea
plantations in the Northeast during the British Raj.
See also[edit]

Indian tea culture

Tocklai Experimental Station

References[edit]
1.

^ a b c d Colleen Taylor Sen (2004). Food Culture in India. Greenwood

Publishing Group. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-313-32487-1.

2.

^ Titus Bhengra and Lamkholal Doungel (2009). Sarthak Sengupta, ed.

The Tea Labourers of North East India: An Anthropo-historical Perspective.
Mittal Publications. p. 101. ISBN 978-81-8324-306-3. Retrieved 10 September
2013.

3.

^ Sen, Colleen Taylor. p. 26. "Ironically, it was the British who

introduced tea drinking to India, initially to anglicized Indians.. tea did not
become a mass drink in India until the 1950s when the India Tea Board, faced
with a surplus of low-grade tea, launched an advertising campaign to
popularize tea in the North, where the drink of choice was milk."

4.

^ Ganeshaiah, K. N. (2009-08), "In search of Sanjeevani", Current

Science 97 (4), retrieved 2010-11-17

5.

^ Adivasis in Assam http://www.indiatogether.org/2008/may/socassamadi.htm

6.

^ http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/marketing/tata-globalbeverages-taps-into-growing-green-tea-culture/article4369306.ece

7.

^ "India to promote tea aggressively". The Hindu. August 5, 2013.

Retrieved 05 August , 2013.

8.

^ a b "Assam tea gardens an hour 'ahead' of India - ZeeNews.com".

Retrieved 18 July 2013.