The Hindu Business Line : Tea centre in Chennai to promote Nilgiris varieties

Mr M. Bhojarajan, Vice-Chairman of Tea Board, told Business Line that the Tea Centre is to be opened at the Central Moffussil Bus Terminus at Koyembedu in Chennai.

``We will have vending machines and also propose to exhibit teas from Nilgiris at the centre. Our target consumer will be the middle-class to lower middle class consumer. The centre should be open and running in a month's time,'' he added.

A tea centre along the lines of one at Mumbai and New Delhi is also to be opened at Udhagamandalam. ``This centre will be something similar to the centre in Mumbai and is to be set up in collaboration with a private company,'' Mr Bhojarajan added.

It is learnt that in principle approval for the project has been given with the location and the private player already having been identified. Currently, Tea Board has a Tea Centre in Mumbai, New Delhi and in Tirumala.

``Such efforts will help in increasing the per capita consumption of tea. However, generic promotion should be a sustained effort and not done on a hit-and-run basis. Efforts should be made to undertake a survey after any such promotion to get the feedback from the end user,'' highly-placed tea industry sources said in response to the Tea Boards initiative.

India's average per capita consumption stands at around 660 g annually. While there is a perception that one needs to work on that figure, experts are of the view that in comparison to some of the other producer countries, India is still better placed.

The per capita consumption in producer nations like China stands at around 360 g, in Indonesia its around 310 g while in Kenya it stands at around 270 g.

``Even a 50-100 g jump in our average per capita consumption will have dramatic impact on prices,'' trade sources added.