Tea Board plans Rs 800 cr tonic in 11th Plan

KOLKATA: The tea industry has much to cheer about. The Tea Board of India has called a meeting on December 17 to work out the modalities for disbursing Rs 800 crore in the 11th Plan period, which is up from Rs 350 crore in the 10th Plan, for rejuvenating the industry in a holistic manner.

Senior officials of Tea Board told ET, “In the 11th Plan, we have modified the schemes that existed in the 10th Plan period. Two important schemes which are being given a special thrust are human resource development and research and development.”

In the 11th Plan period, the disbursal on the HRD front has been increased from Rs 6 crore in 10th Plan to Rs 25 crore. Tea Board officials said that 50% of this HRD fund will be used for the healthcare of tea workers, another 25% for the education of their children and the rest 25% for the training of tea workers. “In the changing scenario, training for the workers is important for upgrading their skills,” the officials added.

The funds allocated for the R&D scheme have been pegged at Rs 95 crore from Rs 70 crore in the 10th Plan period. “We have tied up with IIT Kharagpur, Centre for Development of Advance Computing and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for upgrading processing operations of tea and mapping the tea plantation area in India. Mapping is important for the tea industry for releasing a special purpose tea fund (SPTF) as well,” the officials added.

The Centre has also allocated Rs 100 crore for market promotion of tea. “There has been no change in the allocation of funds for market promotion of tea compared to the 10th Plan. But the focus this time will be on marketing tea domestically. Domestic consumption is growing at a rate of 3-3.5% and therefore, there is a need to promote tea here,” officials added.

Another Rs 350 crore will be spent for plantation development. “The 25% subsidy, which forms part of the SPTF, will be disbursed from this development fund,” the officials said. Funds for quality upgradation of tea has been increased to Rs 230 crore in the 11th Plan from Rs 76 crore in the 10th Plan period.

For giving a fresh thrust to orthodox teas, which is fetching good prices in the export markets, the government has cleared a Rs 100 crore subsidy while it has sanctioned a Rs 130 crore scheme for machinery and value-addition.