An apex body of small tea growers of India has written to Union commerce ministry Piyush Goyal, requesting him to impose import duty on tea bought from Nepal to prevent the indiscriminate influx of tea from the neighbouring country, which, they said, was affecting the domestic and international market of Indian teas.

“Free entry of Nepal teas, both orthodox and CTC varieties, is affecting the Indian tea industry, especially in north Bengal. In Nepal, an import duty of 40 per cent is charged on our teas. We want a similar imposition of import duty on teas bought from Nepal. This will largely reduce the rampant entry of Nepal teas in our country,” said Bijoygopal Chakraborty, the president of the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers’ Associations (Cista).

In India, around 2.5 lakh small tea growers produce around 52 per cent of the total tea in the country.Bengal and Assam are the two main tea producing Indian states. North Bengal contributes around 34 per cent to the national tea production.In 2021, India’s total production was 1,343.06 million kilos out of which 408.17 million kilos were produced in north Bengal.

Chakraborty said that even the parliamentary standing committee on commerce and industry, which recently submitted a report in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on Indian tea, expressed concern over the unbridled import of Nepal teas. The committee also recommended the India-Nepal trade treaty be reviewed and stringent steps be taken to prevent random sale and export of such teas.

“These (Nepal) teas are affecting our domestic market. On a number of occasions the prices that our teas are fetching in auctions are less than the cost of production. On the other hand, some people are blending Nepal teas with Indian teas, and exporting the blends as Indian teas. This is why there should be some checks on the import of tea. We believe that the imposition of import duty will discourage such practices and help our tea sector get better prices,” added Chakraborty.Earlier, a number of associations of tea planters had alsopointed out the need to check and confirm that the teas are fit for consumption.A bought-leaf factory (BLFs) owner said their sector is already in crisis.“This is because in some cases, teas of some BLFs were sold in auctions at Rs 90 per kilo, far below the cost of production. Now if teas are imported from outside and sold here, it would only add to our problems,” he said.