The Hindu Business Line : Tata Tea may hike prices

Bangalore Sept. 23 Firm tea prices may prompt Tata Tea Ltd to go for an upward price revision of its products, said Ms Sangeeta Talwar, executive director of the company, on Tuesday.

“Tea prices are firm and if the prices continue to be firm, we (and the whole industry) will have to raise prices,” Ms Talwar told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of Himalayan, a branded natural mineral water in Bangalore. Tata Tea has a 34 per cent stake in Mount Everest Mineral Water Ltd, which owns the Himalayan brand.

Declining to spell out a time frame as to when the price hike would come into effect, Ms Talwar said: “I don’t think you can predict any particular time because the indications come through everyday as you buy at the auctions.” So far, Tata Tea has raised the prices of its 50 brands in line with the rest of the industry.

Meanwhile, Mount Everest plans to take the Himalayan brand overseas, especially to South-East-Asia over the next six to eight months, once the roll-out of the brand was complete in India, Ms Talwar said. Himalayan was re-launched in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata in recent months.

Mount Everest would leverage on Tata Tea’s distribution network to market Himalayan. “We want to create and own the category of natural mineral water,” Ms Talwar said, adding the company was positioning Himalayan as a lifestyle, wellness and health beverage.

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