The Hindu Business Line : `Comprehensive tea plan by next Parliament session'

Mr Kamal Nath, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, with Mr Dipak Chatterjee, Commerce Secretary, at the inaugural session of stakeholders' conference on `Challenges before the tea industry' in the Capital. — Kamal Narang

New Delhi , Sept. 16

A COMPREHENSIVE package, including fiscal incentives, to revive the crisis-ridden tea industry would be finalised by the next Parliament session, the Union Commerce Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, said here on Thursday.

Inaugurating the two-day stakeholders' conference on `Challenges before the Tea Industry,' organised here jointly by the Tea Board of India and the Department of Commerce, Mr Kamal Nath also said that the package would be worked out in consultation with Members of Parliament of tea-growing areas.

"It will not be an ad hoc package and will instead provide concrete support to the sector," he said. The Minister held that the tea industry is too important and too complex to be dealt with a piece-meal approach.

The objective of the two-day conference is to take stock of the current situation and to evolve a long-term policy as well as a suitable package to enable the tea industry to overcome the current crisis and meet the challenges of the future.

Mr Kamal Nath said that he was fully aware that the tea industry was beset with a number of problems. "Due to a steep fall in prices over the past few years, the level of returns is rather low. The decline in profitability has given rise to a vicious circle, in which adequate investment in tea gardens is not taking place. This has resulted in lower productivity, which in turn has further worsened the profitability," the Minister said.