GUWAHATI: With the Assam tea industry facing a crisis like situation, it has sought for a proper exports promotion policy.
According to news agency ANI, Nalin Khemani, chairman of Bharatiya Chai Parishad, has said that the ailing tea industry in Assam needs proper promotion, particularly overseas, so that it can tap new markets.
“The commerce ministry must ensure that our exports improve; they promote our tea,” Nalin Khemani told ANI.
He added: “There is an oversupply in our domestic market, and the export demand is tepid.”
“If the government takes up with the Tea Board to introduce a tea promotion policy, we can tap new overseas markets,” he further said.
This statement from the chairman of the Bharatiya Chai Parishad came ahead of the union interim budget.
Also read: ‘More Congress leaders in Assam to join BJP’
The budget session of the Parliament, the last session before the Lok Sabha elections in April-May, will begin on January 31.
It may be mentioned here that union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the interim budget on February 01.
“The tea industry in Assam is in stress. For any industry to be sustainable, there has to be a self-sustainable model,” Nalin Khemani said.
He added: “Subsidies can’t help the industry. If the government can take over our social cost burden, it will help the industry.”
“When the Assam tea industry came to being 200 years ago, the tea estate management used to set up infrastructure– schools and hospitals. Now the government is doing a commendable job, and they should now take over the garden hospitals, which will reduce our social cost burden,” Khemani further said.