Rs 230cr fund for tea

The Union Cabinet has approved a Rs 230 crore fund under the 11th five year plan for quality upgradation and product diversification of tea, said Jairam Ramesh, Union minister of state for commerce at a press conference on e-auction of tea in Kolkata on Thursday.

Out of this, Rs 100 crore will be spend as subsidy on orthodox tea. Nearly, Rs 87 crore will be utilised for modernisation of tea processing factories and Rs 37 crore will be spend on creating infrastructure for value-added exports of high quality tea.

The total outlay for tea under the 11th five year plan has been fixed at Rs 800 crore, against Rs 350 crore in the 10th five year plan.

The government has set a target to raising the exports of Indian orthodox tea from Rs 80 million kg at present to 130 million kg in the next five years.

"Our philosophy has been to export what we produce.

However, the market has changed and we have to export according to the international demands. For example, in Russia, people now want orthodox tea, rather than CTC tea," Ramesh said.

Orthodox tea accounts for 8 per cent of the country's tea production and 32 per cent of the tea exports.

Meanwhile, out of the 14 closed tea gardens in North Bengal, two would reopen soon, the minster said.

For five other tea gardens, court cases were going on. For the rest of the six closed tea gardens, negotiations were on with the new buyers.

"North Bengal has suffered a lot because lack of attention. The tea industry is not a sunset industry. Centre is setting up a tea research centre in North Bengal, with an investment of Rs 10 crore. The tea board is also spending Rs 5 crore for a centre of excellence of tea for Rs 5 crore," Ramesh said.