Assam govt announces four new schemes for tea gardens

The Assam government announced four schemes for the tea industry, including a push for the production of ‘orthodox’ variety of leaves which is exported majorly.

Key Points:

=> A 3% interest subvention per year will be provided to those tea gardens which have taken a working capital loan, with an overall cap of Rs 20 lakh.

=> The state government will give a subsidy of Rs 7 per kg of ‘orthodox’ tea. The Tea Board of India already provides a Rs 3 subsidy per kg of ‘orthodox tea’, making it a total subsidy of Rs 10 per kg.

=> If a tea garden purchases new machinery to manufacture ‘orthodox’ tea, then the state govt will help with a 25% capital subsidy.

=> An agricultural income tax holiday for three years will be given for Assam’s tea gardens.

‘Orthodox’ and ‘CTC’ refer to two different styles of tea leave production and processing. For producing the ‘orthodox’ variety, traditional methods of plucking, withering, rolling, oxidation and drying are involved while making the ‘CTC’ — Crush, Tear and Curl — involves passing leaves through rollers.

The state government expects that tea garden authorities will provide a 20% bonus to workers on the occasion of upcoming Durga Puja.