The Hindu Business Line : Fewer takers seen for Special Purpose Tea Fund

Kolkata April 29 The response of tea companies to the Special Purpose Tea Fund (SPTF) this year will be less than expected, according to Tea Board sources.

As a result, the demand for loan as well as subsidy will be at the most 50 per cent of the estimates, if the current trend is any indication, observe the sources.

The current year's loan requirement under SPTF has been estimated at Rs 167.56 crore and the subsidy requirement at Rs 90 crore. The estimates were prepared on the basis of the assumption that during the year a total of 4,095.38 hectares would be brought under replantation, another 2,363.77 hectares under replacement, 6,036.8 hectares for uprooting and 1,136.17 hectares for rejuvenation, totalling 13,632.12 hectares.

However, the actual position so far has been a little different. Although 300 tea companies covering more than 500 gardens have shown interest in SPTF, the number of applications received so far has been insignificant.

The majority of the tea companies showing interest have their activities concentrated in Assam. There are 147 such companies with a total of 300 gardens, followed by West Bengal 100 companies with 129 gardens, Tamil Nadu 20 companies with 23 gardens, Kerala 16 companies with 37 gardens, Tripura 13 companies with 16 gardens and Karnataka two companies with as many gardens.

"But then not all the tea companies inquiring about the scheme will be eligible for benefits under it," the sources observe. First, only those tea gardens that are keen to undertake replantation and rejuvenation programmes will be considered. However, before replantation can be undertaken in a garden, the existing bushes have to be uprooted and the land has to be kept fallow for at least one-and-a-half years. Which means only those gardens that did uprooting in end 2005 can now apply for assistance under SPTF.

Letters from bankers

There is another point. Even those who did uprooting in 2005 and are now planning replantation will find it hard to obtain assistance under SPTF unless their applications are accompanied by letters of consent from their respective bankers.

Tea Board sources, however, indicate that the cases of those tea companies that had earlier applied for subsidy under a separate scheme, namely, Tea Board's ongoing subsidy scheme, will also be considered for assistance under SPTF. Although April 30 is the deadline, Tea Board will receive applications even after that, it is pointed out.