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Int. J. Agric.Sc & Vet.Med. 2013 Sarvesh Kumar Shah, 2013
PROSPECTS OF INDIAN TEA INDUSTRY
Sarvesh Kumar Shah
1*
*Corresponding Author: Sarvesh Kumar Shah, Email: sarveshshah@gmail.com
Review Article
Tea is globally one of the most popular and lowest cost beverages, next only to water. The major
tea producer countries are India, China, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Viet Nam. Total tea
production in world has exceeded over 4 billion kgs, where, India alone produce about one billion
kg of tea and recognised as one of the leaders in world tea production. In India, tea is growing in
16 states, of which North-East India accounts for about 3/4
th
of total tea production. Tea exports
from India during 2010-11 were estimated to 213.79 million kgs valued at Rs. 2995.79 crore.
But, there is a stagnation position in tea export as the more and more competition from Kenyan
and Sri Lankan tea, which are cheaper and at par in quality as of most of Indian tea. The potential
of domestic market should be utilised to because India is the biggest consumer of tea, but per
capita tea consumption in India is very low comparing to the other countries. Popularity of organic
tea will also serve a tool to help Indian tea industry to come into the competition in International
market.
Keywords: Indian tea, Quality tea, Organic tea, Tea catachine, Tea export
ISSN 2320-3730 www.ijasvm.com
Vol. 1, No. 1, February 2013
2013 www.ijasvm.com. All Rights Reserved
Int. J. Agric.Sc & Vet.Med. 2013
1
Main Castor Mustard Research Station, S D Agricultural Station, Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat, India.
INTRODUCTION
Even since tea was discovered in China about
4700 years back, it has become one of the
cheapest and most widely consumed beverages.
Tea is consumed by a wide range of age groups
in all levels of society and more than three billion
cups of tea are consumed daily worldwide. Tea
is a natural beverage brewed from the young
leaves of an evergreen plant Camellia sinensis.
The knowledge of use of tea was limited to the
native of South Asian and South East Asian
countries for many years. The popularity of tea
has gained momentum with the colonisation.
Today, it is commercially cultivated in the areas
scattered in more than 65 countries. The major
tea producer countries are India, China, Kenya,
Sri Lanka, Turkey and Viet Nam. Total tea
production in world has exceeded over 4 billion
kgs, where, India alone contributes about 1 billion
kg of tea and recognised as one of the leaders in
world tea production (Table 1). In India, tea
plantation started with the arrival of Europeans
and commercial cultivation was started in Assam
from 1835 onwards.
Remarkbel y, i n l ast 50 years t he t ea
production is increased by 304%, while the tea
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Int. J. Agric.Sc & Vet.Med. 2013 Sarvesh Kumar Shah, 2013
cultivated area increased by only 160%. That
clearly indicated the adoption of high yielding
clone and better soil and nutrient management,
better estate management and favorable
Government support. In India, tea is mainly grown
in North-East states which accounts for about
3/4
th
of total tea production. Though, tea is
commercially cultivated in 16 states in India, of
which, Assam (52.0%), West Bengal (21.9%),
Tamil Nadu (14.6 %) and Kerala (7.1%) are
accounted for more than 95% of the total tea
production. Other traditional and non-traditional
states where tea is produced in small extents
are Tripura, Karnataka, Uttaranchal, Himachal
Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Mani pur,
Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Odisha
and Bihar (Table 2). Among all the tea growing
areas there is an increse cultivation area in
general except one or two states where tea are
has declined or stagnant. Except one or two
states, there is an increase in area under tea in
other tea producing states.
Country Production (billion kg) % of Total
China 1.47 32.7
India 0.99 22.1
Kenya 0.40 8.9
Sri Lanka 0.28 6.3
Turkey 0.24 5.2
Viet Nam 0.20 4.4
Iran 0.17 3.7
Indonesia 0.15 3.4
Argentina 0.09 2.0
Japan 0.09 1.9
Others 0.42 9.4
World Total 4.48
Table 1: Major Tea Producers and Share in World Tea Production in 2010
Source: FAO (2012)
Assam 162367 182325 203038 233284 269154 271768
West Bengal 82705 88499 93971 101922 110820 114003
Tripura 5055 5444 5333 5898 7200 8268
Bihar 534 460 460 22 1445 2000
Uttaranchal 2084 1818 1804 903 1068 1446
Himachal Pradesh 4183 4183 4183 2063 2312 2348
Manipur 80 144 450 1319
Sikkim 192 171 300 195
Table 2: Growth of Area Under Tea in Tea Growing States (in hectare)
State
Year
1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2004
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Int. J. Agric.Sc & Vet.Med. 2013 Sarvesh Kumar Shah, 2013
TEA EXPORT
The Indian tea industry has a 170 years old
history and since then contributing to the
countrys national income. Indian tea industry
has seen many ups and down since last few
years. Indian tea is demanded in almost every
tea drinking country of the world therefore
become one of the worlds largest exporters
of tea (Asopa, 2007). Major importers of
Indian tea are Russia, UAE, United Kingdom
and Poland. Tea exports from India during
2010-11 were estimated to 213.79 million kgs
valued at Rs. 2995.79 crore. The hardly any
industry other than tea industry generate this
much ext ent of r evenue wi t h huge
employment opportunity to the people who
live in the remotest part of the country. The
quality of tea is largely dependent on the
climate as Assam tea are famous for their
strength, the Darjeeling and Nilgiri tea are
famous for their flavour and fetch higher
prices. But, tea export has reached to a
Arunachal Pradesh 5 526 1067 1729
Nagaland 35 580 1898
Odisha 214 214 214
Meghalaya 103 252
Mizoram 400 750
Tamil Nadu 32723 34646 37073 38634 75625 75978
Kerala 39784 37271 35589 34678 36940 37107
Karnataka 1794 1870 1901 1976 2128 2128
All India 331229 356516 383629 420470 509806 521403
Table 2 (Cont.)
State
Year
1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2004
Source: Tea Statistics (2003-04), Tea Board of India, Kolkata
Composition Orthodox Tea CTC Tea
Water Soluble Solids (%) 39.52 41.12
Theaflavins (%) 0.59 1.30
Thearubigin (%) 6.50 18.00
Total Lipid (%) 3.11 3.68
Carotenoids (g/g) 215.00 176.00
Flavour Volatilesd (%) 18.40 8.20
Total Fibre (%) 19.35 18.93
Crude Fibre (%) 11.70 11.12
Chlorophyll a (mg/g) 1.38 0.48
Chlorophyll b (mg/g) 0.77 0.58
Table 3: Average Chemical Composition of Orthodox and CTC Tea from Assam
Source: TRA (2012)
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Int. J. Agric.Sc & Vet.Med. 2013 Sarvesh Kumar Shah, 2013
platoon as the more and more competition
from Kenyan and Sri Lankan tea, which are
cheaper and at par in quality as of most of
Indian tea. In India Orthodox tea, CTC tea are
mai n t ypes i n whi ch t ea are produced,
however, Green Tea is also produced to some
extent. The chemical compositions of both
major formats of tea are very very different
from each other (Table 3).
INDIAN STANDARDS OF TEA
For the consumer point of view, the Government
attempted to make a standard parameter for tea
so that consumer can get a uniformity of taste
quality. The Government of India has made
standards of different aspects of tea quality for
maintaining the quality to the optimum level
(Table 4).
CHALLENGES BEFORE THE
TEA INDUSTRY
Labour Shortage
Tea is a labour intensive crop and provide a round
the year employment to the local people. In 1950
hardly 0.95 million people were employed in the
tea industry, at present, the number has crossed
more than 1.2 million people, i.e., about one per
cent of total population of the country is directly
dependent on tea industry for their livelihood and
more than 10 million people are associated with
the industry are getting benefit indirectly. The tea
industry is giving priority to employ women as the
plucking of the apical 2 young leaf and a bud of
tea is a highly skilled job (Baruah, 2008). The
labour shortage is witnessed by the garden in the
North as well as in South, this problem is
Bureau of Indian Standard
Standard No. Year Title of the Standard
IS 4541 1986 Glossary of Tea Terms
IS 13855 1993 TeaDetermination of water-soluble ash and water-insoluble ash
IS 13856 1993 TeaDetermination of alkalinity of water-soluble ash
IS 13857 1993 TeaDetermination of acid-insoluble ash
IS 13858 1993 Instant teaDetermination of free flow and compacted bulk densities
IS 13859 1993 Instant tea in solid formDetermination of moisture content (Loss in mass at 103 C)
IS 13860 1993 Instant tea in solid formDetermination of total ash
IS 13861 1993 Instant tea in solid formSampling
IS 6400 1993 Method for preparation of tea infusion for sensory evaluation
IS 13852 1994 TeaPreparation of ground sample of known dry matter content
IS 13853 1994 TeaDetermination of loss in mass at 103 C
IS 13854 1994 TeaDetermination of total ash
IS 13862 1999 TeaDetermination of Water Extract
IS 3611 2000 TeaSampling
IS 15342 2003 Instant Tea in Solid Form
IS 15344 2003 Green Tea
IS 3633 2003 Black tea
Table 4: Indian Standards for Different Aspects of Tea
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Int. J. Agric.Sc & Vet.Med. 2013 Sarvesh Kumar Shah, 2013
associated poor quality harvest and thus loss of
revenue. Labour cost is quite high since hand
picking of tea is quite labour intensive. The tea
industry in India has a legecy of copporate farming
right from the day of Britist rule. The current
situation in this sector has given ample reasons
for a rethink.
To reduce cost, some gardeners are restoring
to longer picking cycles say; 15-18 days against
the ideal 7-10 days. On the top of this, they are
also harvesting three or even four leaves and a
bud disragarding that the tea manufactured would
be of poor quality and fetch low price. The ideal is
two leaves and a bud.
Climatic Influence
The production of tea is not same round the year.
There is a wide variation in the monthly production
of tea. Although total tea production in south India
is less, but as for as the productivity is concerned
they are better than rest of the country because
of the climatic condition of the Southern states.
In North India, there is a dormant winter period,
therefore, the growth of tea bushes stopped and
hence the productivity goes down remarkably,
while in South India the year round moderate
temperature helps bushed to produce leaves
continuously and therefore contribute in higher
productivity (Figure 1). Not only the production
but also the quality of leaves harvest is affected
by the climatic condition and according to flush,
they fetch more or less prices in auction.
Unjudicious Nutrient Management
Most of tea gardens are practing blanket
application of fertilisers without knowing the soil
nutrient status and drainage conditions, age and
species of tea bushes. Therefore soil testing and
drainage status determination is must. The most
important aspect of all tea soil management is
soil pH which should be between 5.0 to 5.5. To
increase tea productivity, poor soil and bush
management should not be overlooked by
pumping in more and more fertilisers and making
the tea becomes al most total ly f erti li ser
dependent. Many tea soils are low in inherent
fertility and hence addition of external nutrients is
essential to get desired yield. For this Integrated
Nutrient Management (INM) must be followed. The
Figure 1: Month-Wise Production of Tea (Average of 4 Year Data)
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Int. J. Agric.Sc & Vet.Med. 2013 Sarvesh Kumar Shah, 2013
use of larger amount of ammonia containing
fertilisers cause a faster soil acidification with
deterioration of soil microbial activity, reduce root
activity, and tolerance to the disease and pest
and frost and drought. The reduced use of organic
manures evident over the past few years is a
further a cause of soil deterioration. Depending
on the availability of rock P, which is a cheap
source of P should be used with Phosphate
Solubilising Microorganism. To supplement the
requirement of nutrients green manuring between
the rows can be done. They add Nitrogen, organic
carbon to the soils and also provide temporary
shade to the tea bushes. All ways of addition of
nutrient should be looked into for their balanced
and judicious use. Use of optimum plant
population, longer pruning cycle, proper shade,
drainage, timely soil amendments are the key
contributing factors for increased production. The
deficiency of micronutrients can be corrected by
foliar application.
Pest and Disease
The estimated loss of production because of pest
and disease is about 10-15%. The uses of
chemical pesticides over the past 40 years have
undoubtly increased tea yields, there have been
some undesirable effects including development
of immunity to pesticides, accumulation of
residues in tea leaves and environmental
contamination. The pesticide usage should be
brought under control by following Integrated Pest
Management (IPM), applying pesticide only when
pest population exceeds the tolerable economic
threshold. The pesticide dose and the interval
between the spray and the plucking must be
strictly observed. There should 4-5 days gap
between spray and plucking in the same area.
Resistance to pest and disease varies between
varieties of tea bushes and there is inherent
danger in planting whole area with one or two
varieties only; therefore, it is recommended to use
at least 4-5 varieties for planting and extension.
Government Support
The tea producers of the country are presently
operating in a situation that is beset with
numerous problems, having to cope with the fast
galloping costs of production on one hand and
the stagnant if not declining international price
situation on the other, both of which are fast
eroding into the profitability that is needed for the
continued sustenance of this gigantic industry.
The total turnover of the tea industry is around
Rs. 10,000 crores. The industry has grown very
well even under the unfavorable conditions. After
the post WTO scenario, this industry needs
support from the government to compete with the
tea industries of other countries. The production
is affected due to mainly unfavorable weather
which is normally followed by the heavy pest and
disease infestation. The industry has to exhaust
its revenue to control pest and disease. The poor
management also leads to unnecessary financial
burden, many times it becomes the cause for
the closure of the tea garden. The unavailability
of skilled labourers is also a constraint for tea
industry.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR
INDIAN TEA INDUSTRY
Big Domestic Market
The kenyan tea is considered of better quality and
cheaper. The Indian tea is almost out of the
competition in international market. Indias
uncompititiveness on account of high cost and
poor quality, and changing consumer demand.
To compete with the tea industries of other
countries after the WTO scenario, Indian tea
industry has to produce quality tea to cater the
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Int. J. Agric.Sc & Vet.Med. 2013 Sarvesh Kumar Shah, 2013
growing need of tea in domestic as well
international market. Tea industry in India as at
crossroad not knowing how to reverse the adverse
trends in global markets that have directly affected
its fortune. Almost 80% of Indias annual
production could consumed by its population. The
potential of domestic market should be utilised to
because India is the biggest consumer of the tea,
but per capita tea consumption is very low than
the other countries (Hazarika, 2011).
Quality Tea by Managing Soil and Water
Quality of tea is dependent of the micro as well
as macro climate. In the garden, micro climate
can be modified by the maintaining proper shades,
correcting faulty drainage and making soil pH in
acidic range with suggested methods. This will
reduce occurrence of severe diseases and
industry will save its revenue. Precautionary
measures should also be taken to prevent the
attack of pest and disease and losses to cross
the limit of economical yield, if weather is
forecasted to be bad.
Mechanization of Plucking
The meet out the shortage of labourers, the garden
may use mechanical plucking machines. This
may reduce the dependence on labourers to the
extent by 1/3
rd
. The weighment of tea leaves
should be made faster to reduce the weathering
and loss in the tea quality due to uncontrolled
oxidation.
Cooperative Tea Factories
The pol icy makers shoul d gi ve l ook
sympathetically towards closed gardens and
provide long term low interest loans to revamp
them. The tea plantation in non traditional area
should be emphasised. The brought leaf tea
factories should be promoted and the medel of
successful co-operative model AMUL could be
adopted for the meet the challenges of labour
shortage in non traditional areas especially.
Pesticide Residue Within Limit Tea
The priority should be given on the value addition
on the tea by keeping the pesticidal residues
within the limits prescribed by the certifying
agencies/importers. The spray of pesticides can
planned in such way so that plucking in that area
is done after 4-5 days of spraying. Biological Pest
Control practices must be followed meticulously.
Spray of neem based or herbal insecticides
should be prefered over chemical version of
pesticises. Banned pesticides should not be used
to control pest and disease neither in garden or
near by areas of garden. The tea should be tested
for the pesticide residue level periodically. This
will help the industry to get premium price during
the auction.
Organic Tea
With the increasing awareness for maintaining
the highest possible health standards, there is
also a growing demand to produce a commodity
that is free of any traces of extraneous pollutants
and pesticides residues well below to the
permissible limits. The tea producers must,
therefore, look for appropriate strategies on all
possible fronts. In the broader terms, potential
alternatives are in strategies for reducing cost of
cultivation, increasing productivity.
Alternative Incomes
The physiological function of tea catachins have
been deeply studied and by now their beneficial
effects on human body are well recognised. For
catachines, the quality of tea does not matter;
harvest two leaves and a bud is not necessary.
In fact the whole bush can be harvested to make
catechins. That is potentially a very large
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Int. J. Agric.Sc & Vet.Med. 2013 Sarvesh Kumar Shah, 2013
application waiting to be exploited commercially.
Tea oil is the another by-product of tea plantation
to be looked for commercial view point.
New Variant
This is a new segment in tea industry and yet to
be tapped. Introduction of tea added with folic acid,
calcium and other vitamins as part of its
ingradients. Promoting more flavours like fruits and
herbal tea into tea like ginger, lemon, elaichee. Even
tea flavour can be promoted into children health
drinks like other chocolate based health drinks. This
will addup a new arena into tea industry.
Tea Tourism
India is known for best home for the tea. The
famous tea producing areas like Darjeeling, Upper
Assam, Cachar, Nilgiri, etc., could be promoted
for tea tourism. Besides pumping up more
revenue to the tea gardeners, this will also help
them the sell value added tea at premium price
with their own branding. Tea tourism can also be
considered as establishment of brand image in
the condumers.
CONCLUSION
There is hardly any industry which stood at the
top most position in the India for about 150 years.
The industry is giving employment to the nearly
1% of population directly and about 10% people
indirectly. The industry has lot of potential in
domestic and international market too. There are
some inherent problems associated with the
industry. Duly attention should be given to the
setbacks of the industry to flourish it therefore
the people who live in the tea growing area of the
country.
REFERENCES
1. Asopa V N (2007), Tea Industry of India: The
Cup that Cheers has Tears, Indian Institute
of Management, Ahmedabad.
2. Baruah Prodip (2008), The Tea Industry of
Assam, Origin and Development, EBH
Publisher, Guwahati.
3. FAO (2012), www.faostat3.fao.org/home/
index.html
4. Hazarika K (2011), Changinh Market
Scenaria for Indian Tea, International Journal
of Trade, Economics and Finance, Vol. 2,
No. 4, pp. 285-287.
5. TRA (2012), http://www.tockl ai .org/
TeaChemistry