| Selling tea through vending machines was an option thought of by the company, said P T Siganporia, managing director, Tata Tea. The company is seeing a modest growth of 3.3 per cent in the black tea segment and is already focusing on speciality and green tea. |
| The vending machine concept can act as a complementing agent to the growth of all the segments. Tata Tea is also looking at growth options in the ready- to-drink (RTD) segment, which is an open area not concentrated by the company so far. |
| The growth might come from the introduction of newer products or variants in the segment, Siganporia said. The company is also looking at the top-end mass market, an area not tapped by the organisation. |
| The different formats would make the product available to the consumer and increase the penetration of the brands, Siganporia said. The company needed to focus on other segments of the beverages market, with the ambient tea market showing stagnant growth, Siganporia said. |
| Tata Tea, which booked capital gains of over $500 million (Rs 2,000 crore) from the Glaceau stake sale within a period of nine months, said the funds could be leveraged for growth. |
| Yesterday the company said it would buy almost 26 per cent of Mount Everest Mineral Water and make an open offer for another 20 per cent in a deal worth up to Rs 201 crore ($52 million). |
| Singaporia said the company would pay back debts "as required". "We will carry on having debt, which will be managed by CFOs. We can leverage the rest of the funds for growth," he said. |
| The total amount of debts in the books stood at around $600 million. Out of this, $336 million is in the books of Tata Tea GB. Tata Tea is waiting for the court order to hive off its North India Plantation Operations (NIPO) into a new corporate entity. |
| Siganporia said the company had already received consent letters from 90 per cent of the people in Borjan, Hatikuli in Assam and two estates in Bengal. |
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