A grim reality is unfolding in Assam and West Bengal’s tea industry as plummeting auction prices, weak demand, rising imports, and mounting export challenges threaten the sustainability of one of India’s oldest sectors.
The Indian tea industry is battling a tough season in 2025, grappling with multiple challenges—from production shortfalls and falling auction prices to a surge in imports that’s hurting domestic producers.
The Indian Tea Association (ITA) secretary general, Arijit Raha, has urged the deputy chairman of the Tea Board of India to reconsider the proposal for a mandatory auction system for teas imported from Nepal.
The Indian Tea Association (ITA) has presented a comprehensive white paper on the challenges and opportunities in the Darjeeling tea industry to the minister-in-charge of labour, law & judicial departments.
Union minister of commerce and industry emphasised the importance of producing quality tea and adhering to strict compliance standards for maximum residue limits (MRLs). He directed the food safety and standards authority of India (FSSAI) and state governments to enforce stringent monitoring measures.
Indian Tea Association chairman Hemant Bangur has underscored the pressing sustainability challenges facing the tea sector, emphasising that the industry's economic viability is under strain.
Trade unions representing over 175 tea plantations in the Terai and Dooars have finally agreed to a 16 per cent bonus-cum-compensatory payment for the accounting year 2023-24.
Such a decision was taken having failed to produce tea up to the mark due to sweltering heat with less than adequate rainfall required for tea plantations in the Brahmaputra Valley Assam and West Bengal.
The Indian Tea Association (ITA) has claimed that all the stakeholders in the value chain, namely producers, buyers, packeteers are responsible law abiding entities providing the Indian consumer with a safe and sustainable cup of tea.
Addressing the 62nd Annual General Meeting of the Tarai Branch of ITA (TBITA) in Siliguri on Friday Mr Asthana also said: “ The exercise must be on mutual cooperation. I trust this spirit will be followed at the district level.”
