Question

In the recent years, many tea plantation estates of eastern India has experienced economic crisis and was forced to shut down. What according to you are the reasons behind this?

Answer 1

Answer:

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Answer 2

Explanation:

Tea is one of the oldest industries in India with a history dating back more than 150 years. Its cultivation started during the colonial period thanks to the discovery of tea leaves in the Brahmputra valley in the northeast of India by Robert Bruce in 1823, and in 1838 the first tea leaves from Assam were sent for sale to the United Kingdom. India soon became a major tea-producing nation, with tea being grown mainly in four states: the northeastern states of West Bengal and Assam and the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. India attained the unique position of being the largest producer of tea in the world for nearly 100 years, until it was overtaken by China in 2005. India continues to maintain the position of the second largest producer. Apart from China and India, Sri Lanka and Kenya are the other major tea-producing nations, and the four of them together they produce three quarters of the world’s tea. In 2008, India produced about 980 million kilograms of tea.

As of December 2009 the total turnover of the Indian tea industry stood at about 90 billion rupees, or about US$2 billion. However due to huge domestic demand for the tea in both India and China, the majority, about 80% of the production, is consumed domestically and rest is exported. Thus, Kenya and Sri Lanka, despite producing less than half quantity of tea compared to India, are the leading exporters of tea.

Most of the tea is sold – loose unbranded in the Indian market. However, recently there is steady increase in the sale of packaged branded tea with global players active in India also. In the year 2000 the Indian Tata tea company procured the leading UK brand – Tetley - and Tata-Tetley has become a leading global brand. Within India, Unilever (manufacturer of the popular global brand Lipton) and Tata Tea are the leading brands. The brands, irrespective of the horrifying conditions of workers, have been posting steady profits over the years. Tata Tea has recently overtaken Unilever to become the leading brand in India and has become an over US$ 1 billion company.