Tea industry has urged the government to come up with schemes to help increase tea exports from India and give financial support to set up tea lounges to promote tea drinking in the country in the upcoming budget. They have also said that the Budget should introduce new objectives so that the Tea Board can act as a facilitator for optimizing the development, promotion and research in the tea industry.
Madhav Sarda, managing director, Golden Tips Tea said "The Tea Board has almost done away with subsidizing exporters' participation in overseas expos. This was a very important component to locate new markets and buyers for Indian teas and should be re-introduced to promote exports through which the government can enhance foreign exchange earnings. We expect this Union budget to address this so that homegrown tea brands can expand their footprint internationally, and get recognition for delivering best quality gourmet teas to customers globally."
Exports of Indian tea have dwindled by 9 per cent in the first ten months of 2021 compared to the same period of the previous year and it is unlikely to cross 200 million kg in 2021.
Sarda added, Also, retailing of premium teas through specialized "Tea Boutiques" should be encouraged and financially supported by the Tea Board as this popularizes the concept of drinking specialty teas in the country. This will not only encourage people to imbibe a healthy lifestyle, but will surely help the tea industry in these troubled times of production loss owing to climate change and other factors, especially in Darjeeling."
Srinivas Ganadinni, founder and CEO, of The Tea Planet said "The tea industry is looking forward to the proposed Tea Promotion and Development Act of 2022 in the coming year as the Tea Act, 1953 has lost relevance in today’s context. The Budget should introduce new objectives so that the tea board can act as a facilitator for optimizing the development, promotion, and research in the tea industry."
He added " Indian tea has a large demand in export markets, but we are still ranked fourth in the industry. Hopefully, this budget will make it easier to promote Indian teas on the global market through international trade shows by providing trade fair subsidiary schemes to large, medium, and small scale industries that are currently exporting. This will invariably help build a resilient ecosystem for these sectors that will bolster our overall growth. Additionally, industries that are into the second line of packaging and contributing to value addition to the tea industry should be encouraged and subsidies should be given to enable infrastructure upgrades that will encourage exports to world markets."
Bala Sarda, founder, VAHDAM India feels that the Budget should look into reducing long term capital gains tax on private equity and making it at par with the public market. "You pay 10% tax on investments in stock markets but an entrepreneur pays 27-28% tax on a business he has built from scratch’. This is something I hoped for even last year and will continue to do so," he said.
The VAHDAM India founder expects the budget to come up with stronger subsidies on import of capital goods used for core manufacturing and value addition for exports.
"Lastly, the budget can look into widening the ambit of Special Startup manufacturing zones for companies or startups which want to foray into manufacturing. This would give the government's "Vocal for Local" initiative a timely fillip," he said.
Source:economictimes.com