Tea Industry

Why is in news? Several steps taken to boost the Indian tea industry, to address emerging challenges and to create a global brand

India is the 2nd largest tea producer and largest black tea producer with production at around 1350 M Kgs and self-sufficient to meet out the domestic requirements and export obligations

India is also the largest consumer of black tea and consumes around 18% of the total World tea consumption.

Indian teas are exported to various destinations and is the 4th largest tea exporter besides catering to a large number of domestic consumers.

The Indian tea Industry is employing 1.16 million workers directly and an equal number of people are associated with it indirectly.

Small Tea Growers are the emerging Sector contributing nearly 52% of the total produce.

Indian tea is one of the finest in the world due to strong geographical indications, heavy investment in tea processing units, continuous innovation, augmented product mix, and strategic market expansion.

India is also among the world's top tea consuming countries, with 80% of the tea produced in the country consumed by the domestic population.

The northern part of India is the biggest producer at about 83% of the country's annual tea production in 2021-22 with the majority of the production coming from Assam followed by West Bengal.

The southern part of India produces about 17% of the country's total production with the major producing states being Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka.

India is 4^th largest tea exporters in the world making about 10% of the total exports.

Indian Assam, Darjeeling, and Nilgiri tea are considered one of the finest in the world.

The majority of the tea exported out of India is black tea which makes up about 96% of the total exports.

The types of tea exported through India are: Black tea, Regular tea, Green tea, Herbal tea, Masala tea and Lemon tea.

Out of these, black tea, regular tea and green tea make up approximately 80%, 16% and 3.5% of the total tea exported from India.