The Union government has responded to the plea of the Tea Board for funds to disburse subsidies. “The Tea Board has just now received ₹5.06 crore, of which ₹3 crore is for South India. This pertains to the quarter ending September. Our requirement is much more but to some extent, we will be able to ease the fiscal tension of the plantations. We hope to get regular funding hereafter,” Tea Board Executive Director C Paulrasu told BusinessLine .

“Our thrust is on exports for which there is a special subsidy for the manufacture of orthodox teas meant for exports. We will extend the subsidy if 20 per cent of the production is exported,” he said.

Earlier, delivering his Chief Guest address at the AGM of the Nilgiri Planters’ Association (NPA), he urged planters to go in for orthodox tea production.

“The cost of production is increasing because of wages. Climate change is affecting our volume of production. However, we do not have control on these. So, the best way to survive is to get a higher price realisation. That is possible by changing over to orthodox tea, which is exported from CTC tea, which is consumed more internally”, he said.

“Of the 115 million kg (mkg) tea produced annually in the Nilgiris, 84 mkg are CTC and only 25 mkg is orthodox, the remaining being other varieties like green tea. The climate is suitable for orthodox tea,” he said.

T Jayaraman, President, United Planters’ Association of Southern India (Upasi), urged the Board to launch an aggressive generic promotion of Nilgiri tea as done for Darjeeling.

NPA Vice Chairman R Rajkumar urged Tea Board to revive its support for the Speciality Winter Tea Auction, which had helped the industry fetch high prices.

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