ITA worried over fund delay

KOLKATA: The Indian Tea Association (ITA) has expressed concern over the delay in creation of a special fund by the Centre for re-plantation needed for rejuvenation of the tea industry. ITA chairman C K Dhanuka told the proposal for creating a special fund with the help of the industry, lending agencies and the Centre, was making slow progress. He said that unless the matter was expedited, the tea industry would be affected to a great extent as productivity was declining. Dhanuka said the association would take up the matter with the Tea Board shortly. Tea Board had mooted the idea of creating a special fund for re-plantation and rejuvenation of tea gardens across the country. As per initial estimates, the investment required for re-plantation and rejuvenation over a period of 15 years was Rs 4000 crore. The Tea Board Chairman informed that SBI Capital Markets and Pegasus had been engaged in carrying out a feasibility study of the project. For this, the Tea Board had constituted a committee of stakeholders comprising representatives from Nabard, ITA, Upasi, and the Finance Ministry. Therefore, the Tea Board had also asked the industry to contribute at least 10 per cent of the total amount. While the Centre was willing to contribute around Rs 300 crore, the balance was proposed to be raised from bank loans. ITA sources said that 1.70 lakh hectares would be taken up for re-plantation, while rejuvenation and pruning would be undertaken on 42,000 hectares. At any point of time over a 15-year period, the peak lending requirement would be around Rs 1500 crore. Meanwhile, ITA expressed happiness over release of Rs 93 crore by the Centre from collection of additional excise duty (AED) from the tea industry. As the money would help to raise the production of orthodox variety, the immediate need for raising exports. The Centre had collected around Rs 140 crore from AED collection in the last 36 months.

ITA worried over fund delay

The Indian Tea Association is concerned over the delay in creating a special fund for the rejuvenation of the tea industry by the Centre.

More from our Partners

Popular Categories

Hot on Web

In Case you missed it

Top Searched Companies

Latest News

Download ET APP

Follow us on

become a member