Small tea growers warm up to agricultural loan waiver
The finance minister’s farm loan waiver will help 1.10 lakh small growers in the tea sector to become more competitive.
By TNN |
KOLKATA: The finance minister���s farm loan waiver will help 1.10 lakh small growers in the tea sector to become more competitive. Small growers contribute 25% to the national tea production, which stood at 940 million kg in 2007. The 2008-09 Budget has also abolished the cash transaction tax, which was a burden to the tea industry in particular.
���Nearly 80% of the tea estate workers do not have bank accounts and therefore, they have to be paid in cash. For the tea industry, which is yet to come out of a crisis, the cash transaction tax was an added burden,��� Sanjay Bansal, chairman of the Ambootia Group.
Incidentally, there are 3 million direct workers in the country���s tea estates. The estates also provide indirect employment to some 1.5 million people. The wage bill of the tea industry comes around Rs 80 crore. The payment to tea estate workers are made on a weekly, fortnightly and monthly basis.
Interestingly, the small growers will enjoy the facilities of agriculture loan as they do not have a processing factory within the garden. ���In the case of small growers, tea is treated as an agricultural product. But for those who have a processing factory, tea is not treated as an agricultural product,��� senior tea industry officials added.
Elaborating further, the industry officials said: ���The loan waiver will help small growers to make a fresh start. This will also make them competitive.���
Tea companies believe the waiver of excise duty on teapremixes will encourage consumption of speciality and flavoured tea mostly among the youths. Internationally, the consumption of black tea is stagnating and people are gradually shifting to flavoured or speciality tea, which has black tea component as well.
���India has 500 million youths of below 25 years of age. Speciality tea is gradually becoming popular. The abolition of excise duty will bring down the cost of these teas and will make them more popular among the youths,��� Mr Bansal said.
���Nearly 80% of the tea estate workers do not have bank accounts and therefore, they have to be paid in cash. For the tea industry, which is yet to come out of a crisis, the cash transaction tax was an added burden,��� Sanjay Bansal, chairman of the Ambootia Group.
Incidentally, there are 3 million direct workers in the country���s tea estates. The estates also provide indirect employment to some 1.5 million people. The wage bill of the tea industry comes around Rs 80 crore. The payment to tea estate workers are made on a weekly, fortnightly and monthly basis.
Interestingly, the small growers will enjoy the facilities of agriculture loan as they do not have a processing factory within the garden. ���In the case of small growers, tea is treated as an agricultural product. But for those who have a processing factory, tea is not treated as an agricultural product,��� senior tea industry officials added.
Elaborating further, the industry officials said: ���The loan waiver will help small growers to make a fresh start. This will also make them competitive.���
Tea companies believe the waiver of excise duty on teapremixes will encourage consumption of speciality and flavoured tea mostly among the youths. Internationally, the consumption of black tea is stagnating and people are gradually shifting to flavoured or speciality tea, which has black tea component as well.
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���India has 500 million youths of below 25 years of age. Speciality tea is gradually becoming popular. The abolition of excise duty will bring down the cost of these teas and will make them more popular among the youths,��� Mr Bansal said.
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