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Mr. Percy Siganporia, MD, Tata Tea Ltd, at the launch of Tata Tea Agni in the Capital on Friday. - Ramesh Sharma

New Delhi , April 15

TATA Tea Ltd, the world's second-largest tea company, today announced its foray into the economy segment of the branded tea market by launching the erstwhile Agni brand as `Tata Tea Agni'.

The company is eyeing 100 per cent growth in its market share in the economy segment with this initiative. The new, upgraded Agni will be priced at about 7-8 per cent premium to the existing variant and is an attempt by the company to take forward its branding initiative.

"With the launch of Tata Tea Agni, Tata Tea now has a strong presence across all segments in the leaf-tea market. The company has demonstrated robust performance in its key markets, making significant gains in market share. This initiative will allow us to provide a tighter focus to our brand building efforts and also enlarge opportunities for further reinforcing equity our flagship Tata Tea enjoys," said the Managing Director, Mr Percy Siganporia.

Recently, the company relaunched its flagship brand Tata Tea Premium whereas Tata Tea Gold was launched in 2003.

Tata Tea has been conducting a thorough organisational restructuring, selling off some tea plantations in the South so that it can better focus on the branded tea business.

Besides Tata Tea Agni, its branded portfolio comprises Tata Tea Premium, Tata Tea Gold and the Tetley.

About 650 million kg of tea is consumed in India each year, of which branded tea accounts for about 300 million kg. In the branded tea market, estimated at over Rs 2,500 crore, most of the teas sold are small regional brands.

Tata Tea plans to wean away these consumers through its branding initiatives. On the basis of prices, the largest segment of the packet tea market is economy at 61 per cent where the average tea price is less than Rs 145 per kg; followed by the popular segment where pricing is in the Rs 145-180 per kg range and then the premium end beyond Rs 180 per kg.

At present, Tata Tea claims 5 per cent share of the economy segment and plans to double this within this fiscal through the new Agni.

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