The Tea Board of India is planning to come up with two regulatory councils — in North and South India — within six months, which would be entrusted to monitor the quality of tea.
“Our plan is to set up Tea Councils in North and South India to maintain and monitor quality standards in the industry. The body will have members from exporters, producers, traders, warehouse owners and also representatives from Tea Board,” said MGVK Bhanu, Tea Board Chairman, on the sidelines of the 117th annual general meeting of Calcutta Tea Traders Association. The councils are expected to come up within a time period of about six months.
However, the bodies will be under the control of Tea Board. Roshni Sen, Deputy Chairman of the board said, “The councils would be checking samples of every export consignment. The self-regulatory body will have the rights to cancel licence of exporters violating quality norms and importers will be assured of quality.”