Jay Shree Tea to hive off BPO, tea units

KOLKATA: Jay Shree Tea & Industries, a BK Birla Group company, is looking to hive off its BPO unit in Kolkata and its bought-leaf manufacturing unit in Assam. The decision to restructure the company’s operations comes within 24 hours of Basant Kumar Birla’s announcement on Monday that Jay Shree Tea & Industries would go to daughter Jayshree Mohta. The decisions were taken at a recent board meeting. The company has conveyed its decision to BSE on Tuesday.

“The infotech business — Jay Shree Infotech — will initially be demerged from the tea business. This will enable us to focus more on our tea business. At a later stage, we may think about selling it off,” said a Jay Shree Tea official. Incidentally, the BPO unit has not been able to make much progress as it is not sufficiently large. Though the number of seats at the BPO was increased from 90 to 200 and there is sizeable business from overseas clients, the high rate of employee-attrition has affected smooth operations.

In fact, managing director DM Jain, at the company AGM on June 28, had indicated that the infotech division of will be divested since the unit lacked the necessary ‘economies of scale’. Commenting on the company’s decision to also divest its bought-leaf factory in Margherita, a company official said: “The factory is located far off from our existing gardens. It takes at least five hours to reach the factory. Logistically, it was not convenient for us.”

The Rs 240-crore company has 23 tea estates spread over Assam, Cachar, Darjeeling, Dooars and South India. It produces 20 million kg of tea annually. At present, the company exports teas to Germany, Japan, the UK and the US. In the domestic market, the company has four brands — Sadabahar, Shaandar, Kalline Gold and Jaandar.

Besides tea, the company manufactures single super phosphate and sulphuric acid at its chemical plants in West Bengal and Pataudi in Gurgaon. The company is also engaged in warehousing activities in Kolkata and Kochi. It has also developed residential and commercial complexes at Kolkata and Bangalore. The Jay Shree Tea share closed at 105.6 on BSE on Tuesday, up from the previous close of Rs 101.15. It hit an intra-day high of Rs 111 and low of Rs 100.60.