The Hindu Business Line : Govt urged to focus more on marketing of tea overseas

TEA merchant exporters have urged the Union Government to concentrate more on marketing of tea in the overseas market rather than just laying stress on production in the gardens, according to Mr R.M. Kaushik, Chairman of Indian Merchant Tea Exporters' Forum (IMTEF), at a press conference.

He, however, clarified that there was no clash of interest between the merchant exporters and tea producers.

"We feel that Government incentives should be directly linked with marketing and promotional activities. They should not be directed only towards production. There should be a level playing field", he said.

According to him, the Government should try to identify the consumer trends in some of the key markets. In this context, he said that Russia, Pakistan, Egypt, the US and the UK were big drinking nations. They consumed more than 100 million kg of tea every year but they did not produce any tea.

"We should try to build our policies around these markets. There should be better communication among consumers about Indian tea. Marketing initiatives should be taken to increase our exports in those markets", Mr Kaushik said.

In fact, the forum has submitted four proposals to the Union Government on these lines. He felt the exercise should help the industry to increase exports, which has dropped by one per cent over the last 20 years on a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) basis.

However, Mr Kaushik laid emphasis on the simplification of export procedures. "In any case, due to our tea growing regions being located in distant corners of the country, we take a long time to deliver our teas to foreign buyers", he said.

The forum criticized the Union commerce ministry's decision to reduce DEPB (Duty entitlement Pass Book Scheme) rate on tea exports to one per cent from two per cent.

"Moreover, the duty drawback has been announced at only one per cent for tea exports for this year in lieu of DEPB as against a total drawback of four per cent in the past", he said.

Merchant exporters were also critical of the Tea (Distribution & Export) Control Order 2005. The order aims mostly at collecting data from exporters. Mr Kaushik said that members of the forum would voluntarily provide such information but they should be spared the procedural hazards.

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