The Tea Board would shortly send a proposal to the Commerce Ministry suggesting closing down of its three offices in London, Moscow and Dubai.
The decision to close down the three offices was taken at a recent board meeting in Kerala, a Tea Board official told PTI.
However the proposal would have to be cleared by the Ministry, the official said.
The overseas offices were set up for promotion of Indian tea in those countries with an aim to gain export markets.
Earlier, the Tea Board had offices in Cairo and Kuwait. But these two offices were relocated to Dubai. It had also closed down offices in New York, Hamburg and Sydney.
The CAG in its report had observed that expenses incurred in maintaining the offices were relatively high compared to work carried out by the officers posted there.
Industry experts were of the view that since India is trying to gain considerable market share in the Middle East and Russia, promotion of Indian tea was still required in these two places.
Regarding London, experts said since that is a regulated market, closure of the office would not make any difference.
Since intense lobbying was involved for getting plum postings abroad, the Ministry would be faced with a difficult choice, industry experts added.
