The Tea Board has issued show-cause notices to several tea exporters in India, threatening to suspend or cancel their licenses for allegedly passing off cheap African teas as premium Indian varieties. This action supports industry stakeholders' concerns about some traders exploiting the system, damaging India's global brand reputation, and undercutting compliant exporters.
According to the Tea Board, regulations require teas blended with imported tea to be exported as multi-origin rather than Indian tea. Some exporters allegedly imported teas from countries like Kenya duty-free and re-exported them as premium Indian teas.
The issue has raised concerns about India's tea industry's sustainability and reputation. Planters have urged the government to take action, citing irreparable harm to the industry's image and demand.
The Tea Board's action issuing show cause notices to errant exporters aim to protect India's brand value and ensure compliance with regulations. A senior official of the tea board told World Tea News that such action was the need of the hour to maintain India's global tea image. "[The] image of Indian tea will get a beating globally if these kind of activities are allowed to continue," the Tea Board official said.
Bidyananda Borkatoky, adviser to the North Eastern Tea Association, told World Tea News that importing and blending teas for re-export is common in the price-sensitive global tea market. However, he emphasized the importance of clear labeling, saying, "A multi-origin tea blend cannot be sold as Indian tea." Borkatoky was the former vice chairman of the tea board.
According to the Tea (Distribution and Control) Order, 2005, teas blended with imports must be labeled as multi-origin and not Indian tea. Some exporters allegedly import cheap African teas duty-free and re-export them as premium Indian teas, violating regulations.
A notification issued by the Tea Board in 2021 had stated that exporters have to clearly mention the origin of tea in packages and invoices while exporting. “Any tea exported as Indian tea or as any nomenclature of Indian tea shall comprise 100 percent of such Indian tea,” the tea board notice stated.
The notice further stated that in case Indian tea is blended with imported tea, the same shall be exported as multi origin tea and should not be marked as teas of Indian origin under any circumstances.
Last year, India, the world’s second largest tea producer after China, emerged as the largest importer of Kenyan tea.
According to the Tea Board of Kenya, exports to India shot up from 3.53 million kg from January to October 2023 to 13.71 million kg during the same period in 2024. The 288 percent jump makes India the country’s largest importer of its teas. Import from Kenya stood at an average price of $1.75 a kg.
The development had sparked concerns that the cheap and lower-quality African tea is used for blending and even re-exported under the brand of Indian tea.
Overall, India imported over 44 million kg tea in 2024, a record, while export also spiked to an all-time high of 254 million kg.
The leap in tea imports from Kenya has been a cause of concern for tea producers and traders in India, which has been grappling with oversupply for some time, although production in the country drooped by more than 50 million kg in 2024 with Assam recording a crop loss of about 20 million kg.
The average price of the imported teas from Kenya is Rs 156.73 per kg compared to Rs 252.83 per kg fetched by Assam tea in auctions up to October 2024.
Tea industry captains attributed the entry of cheaper teas to the abolishment of the North Indian Tea Council, which monitored the quality and minimum residue limit (of pesticides) compliance of teas.
Assam's small tea growers have complained that the Indian market is filled with low-quality tea from other countries in recent times, and this has resulted in Indian tea being deprived of a fair price. “The Government of India must prevent the entry of poor-quality tea from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Kenya, etc., into the Indian markets,” Lakhi Bharali, an office bearer of the Association has been quoted in the local press.
In a letter to the Tea Board, the Consultative Committee of Plantation Association (CCPA) stated that at least 30-35 million kg imported teas are being mixed with about 210 million kg of Indian origin teas and fraudulently re-exported as Indian tea.
The letter pointed out that the maximum violation is being done by a handful of five to six major exporters to Iraq although this has now spread to key markets such as Iran and others.
“This violation is causing irreparable harm to the image of Indian tea globally and portraying us as unreliable suppliers. Moreover, the passing off of imported tea is affecting demand for Indian tea and sustainability of the industry,” the letter stated. It also stated that the industry would have no complaints if re-export is done as multi-origin tea.
Hemant Bangur, the chairman of the consultative committee of plantation Association, the apex body of the tea industry in India, has been quoted in The Telegraph as saying: “We need to create a special operation procedure for import and export of teas. The Tea Council, working under the aegis of the Tea Board, is preparing one. The SOP will act as a deterrent. At present, people may be flouting the law due to lack of a deterrent.”
One of the five tea exporters who have received Tea Board notices has gone to court.
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