The revenue department has clarified that loose tea sold in auctions will not be treated as branded tea and hence not invite the excise impost introduced in the 1998-99 budget. A clarification to this effect has been sent to all field offices of the excise department. Tea auctions in Calcutta and other places had come to a halt in the wake of the decision of excise inspectors to charge the levy.
Officials said the department would take recourse to the definition of brand spelt out earlier. Till the latest budget, branded tea was exempt from excise.