Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada informed the Lok Sabha that the Tea Board utilised Rs 150.20 crore during the period from 2021-22 to 2025-26 (as of October 31, 2025) for Assam under the ‘Tea Board is implementing the ‘Tea Development & Promotion Scheme (TDPS)’. The minister said this in his reply to Congress MP from Assam Gaurav Gogoi.
The Congress MP wanted to know (a) the current status of implementation of the ‘Tea Development & Promotion Scheme’ in Assam, including funds allocated and utilised in the state during the past five years, (b) the number of small tea growers in Assam who have benefited under the scheme, (c) the key outcomes achieved in Assam as a result of the scheme, particularly in terms of productivity, quality improvement, support to small growers and market development, and (d) whether any third-party evaluations, audits or performance assessments have been conducted to measure the scheme’s effectiveness.
According to the minister, the Tea Board is implementing the ‘Tea Development & Promotion Scheme’ across the country, including Assam. The scheme, inter alia, aims to increase the production and productivity of tea, improve the quality of tea entering the markets, enhance exports, mobilise small tea growers into forming Self Help Groups and Farmer Producer Organizations (SHGs/FPOs) to enable them to move up the value chain, provide support for setting up mini tea factories by SHGs/FPOs to make them self-sustainable and undertake capacity-building programmes. Under the scheme, out of the Tea Board’s overall budget, Rs 152.76 crore was allocated, and Rs 150.20 crore was utilised by the Tea Board for activities specific to the State of Assam during the period 2021-22 to 2025-26 (as of October 31, 2025). The number of beneficiaries of the scheme is 70,633 in 19 districts of Assam as of October 31, 2025.
The minister said that under the Tea Development & Promotion Scheme, activities undertaken in Assam during the period 2021-22 to 2025-26 (as of October 31, 2025) inter alia include replantation of tea in a 437.42 ha area; formation of 318 SHGs, 143 FPOs & 26 FPCs; setting up of 31 mini tea factories; conversion of 30.32 ha of tea plantations into organic; setting up of 30 farm field schools; and organization of 1343 capacity-building programmes. The export of Indian tea, which includes Assam tea, has also grown from US $ 751.07 million in 2021-22 to US $ 923.89 million in 2024-25 with a CAGR of 7.15 per cent.
“An evaluation study of ‘Tea Development & Promotion Scheme (TDPS)’ was carried out by the Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), NITI Aayog, and its report with key recommendations was submitted in May 2023. The report, inter alia, mentioned the satisfactory implementation of the Board’s plantation schemes as well as its achievements in the formation of SHGs/FPOs of small tea growers and helping them to set up tea factories. It also mentioned the scheme’s satisfactory impact in terms of increasing productivity. The key recommendations in the report inter alia included replantation, scaling up of brand promotion efforts, formation of SHGs/FPOs of small tea growers, dissemination of knowledge to farmers on Good Agriculture Practices and capacity building of small tea growers. These recommendations were considered while finalising the TDPS scheme for the period 2023-24 to 2025-26,” the minister said.
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