Indian Tea producing area Information Flavor characteristics of New Indian Tea producing areas the Indian government encourages the production of tea in new areas and small tea farmers

To encourage the planting of more tea in new areas, the Indian Tea Council suspended seven parts of the Tea Act of 1953. From now on, no permission is required to grow tea anywhere in the country. A notice in this regard was issued on August 8, 2021. However, stakeholders in the tea industry expressed concern about the Tea Committee's notice that the move could lead to the production of more shoddy tea. "suspending these provisions may allow more unregulated growers, even in non-tea-growing areas. This will lead to more shoddy tea, "said a grower in tea-rich areas of Assam." India already faces a surplus of tea production, which is mainly caused by small tea farmers. In addition, the quality is also declining year by year. In fact, the price of tea at the auction center has been stagnant for several years due to rising production costs. According to a notice, the Indian Tea Committee also said that the central government had suspended articles 12 to 16, 39 and 40 of the 1953 Tea Act, effective August 23 this year until further notice. The announcement follows a decision by the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Industry to amend the bill, which restricts the cultivation of tea without proper permission from the board of directors. Restrictions are imposed in accordance with sections 12 to 16 of the shelved Tea Act to prevent unregulated cultivation. It mentioned that the necessary permission of the committee was required to grow tea. A new challenge "(suspended) some of the terms are used to safeguard the interests of the tea industry," said another tea farmer in the eastern Assam state, which is rich in tea resources. He believes that this decision is a new challenge to the troubled tea industry. "more tea gardens will lead to a sudden increase in tea production and oversupply, thereby lowering tea prices. Small tea farmers will be the biggest beneficiaries. But organized tea farmers may have a negative impact. "

However, the Tea Industry Committee said that the new decision would not have a significant impact on the tea industry, which was intended to encourage the planting of tea in new areas in the hope of developing specialty tea centers. According to media reports, PK Besborough, chairman of the tea committee, said: "people hardly abide by these rules, which is superfluous." Bezboruah said that although some people worry that green tea production may double with the suspension of licensing, this is unlikely to happen. For decades, he said, tea cultivation, especially by small tea farmers, had not obtained the necessary permission from the Indian Tea Council (tea Board of India). "the law exists, but it is not enforced," he said in an interview with The Free Press Journal, an Indian magazine. "so we don't think it's going to have a big overall impact." The Chairman of the Committee to encourage the planting of more Tea trees and Tea further said that the decision to suspend the compulsory license may be to encourage the cultivation of more tea in the northern Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Northern Akander. Bezboruah also told Free Press magazine: "the government wants to promote tea cultivation in these states. Tea has been grown in these states since British times, but yields are much lower than in traditional tea-growing areas such as Assam or West Bengal. " Bezboruah pointed out that Indian government companies may want to develop these tea gardens into the same characteristic tea gardens as some tea gardens in China, which have low production but high value in the market. "but whether this can become a reality remains to be seen," he concluded. " Assam is considered to be the largest tea growing area in the world, accounting for more than half of India's total tea production. Recently, some neighboring states-Nagaland, Meghalaya-have begun to grow tea trees and have been doing well. In fact, a few years ago, a tea garden sold for a record price in the specialty tea category at the Gao Hatti Tea auction Center.