Balmer Lawrie to exit domestic tea business

Diversified PSU Balmer Lawrie & Co is planning to exit from domestic tea operations, a company official said.    

"We are not trying to grow in tea," Balmer Lawrie Managing Director S K Mukherjee told PTI, adding that the tea business in the country was 'lukewarm'.  

Earlier, the PSU had hived off its London tea operations to Duncan McNeill group.      

Mukherjee said that exit from domestic tea business would happen by the end of the current financial year. Before that, it would have to be approved by the board, he said.      

Presently, Balmer Lawrie is involved in blending and packaging of tea bought from auctions and private sources.   

He said that packaged and bulk tea were sent to countries like the UK and Japan. Mukherjee said that the annual revenue generated from this activity was around Rs five crore.  

To a query, he said that the form of exit, whether to sell the business or to close it, was yet to be decided.    

The company had also withdrawn its 'Indian Summer' brand which was retailed in the country.