2 lakh tea plantations to be replanted

An ambitious plan that seeks to replace and replant over two lakh hectares of tea plantations across 1,600 estates will kick off next March.

The attempt is to overhaul the Indian tea industry, which has gone through a long recession that started in mid 1999.

"The idea is to reverse the decline in productivity of the ageing tea bushes. The problem of senile tea bushes has led to high cost of production and deterioration in quality. Nearly 50 per cent of our tea bushes are more than 40 years old while there are certain estates in Assam which have century old tea bushes," said Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh.

The government plans to pump in big money for this initiative. It hopes that the move will ultimately lead to an increase in the global market share of Indian tea, which has faced intense competition from countries like Sri Lanka, Kenya and Vietnam.