Government of India through Tea Board is implementing the ‘Tea Development & Promotion Scheme (TDPS)’ across the country, including in the State of Assam. The scheme inter alia aims to increase the production and productivity of tea, improve quality of tea entering the markets, enhance exports, mobilize small tea growers into forming Self Help Groups and Farmer Producer Organizations (SHGs/FPOs) to enable them to move up the value chain, provide support for setting up of mini tea factories by SHGs/FPOs to make them self-sustainable and undertake capacity building programs. Under the scheme, out of Tea Board’s overall budget, ₹152.76 Crore was allocated and ₹150.20 Crore was utilized by Tea Board for activities specific to the State of Assam during the period 2021-22 to 2025-26 (till 31.10.2025).

The details of number of small growers who have benefited under the scheme, district wise and year wise, are attached as Annexure-I.

Under the Tea Development & Promotion Scheme, activities undertaken in the State of Assam during the period 2021-22 to 2025-26 (till 31.10.2025) inter alia include re-plantation of tea in 437.42 Ha area; formation of 318 SHGs, 143 FPOs & 26 FPCs; setting up of 31 mini tea factories; conversion of 30.32 Ha area of tea plantations into organic; setting up of 30 farm field schools and organisation of 1343 capacity building programs. The export of Indian tea, which includes Assam Tea, has also grown from 751.07 million USD in 2021-22 to 923.89 million USD in 2024-25 with a CAGR of 7.15 %.

An evaluation study of ‘Tea Development & Promotion Scheme (TDPS)’ was carried out by the Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), NITI Aayog and its report with key recommendations submitted in May 2023. The report inter alia mentioned about satisfactory implementation of the Board’s plantation schemes as well as its achievements in formation of SHGs/FPOs of small tea growers and helping them to set up tea factories. It also mentioned about the scheme’s satisfactory impact in terms of increasing productivity. The key recommendations in the report inter alia included replantation, scaling up of brand promotion efforts, formation of SHGs/FPOs of small tea growers, dissemination of knowledge to farmers on Good Agriculture Practices and capacity building of Small Tea Growers. These recommendations were considered while finalizing the TDPS scheme for the period 2023-24 to 2025-26.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Shri Jitin Prasada, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

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Abhishek Dayal/Shabbir Azad/Anushka Pandey

                                                                                                                      Annexure -I

Numbers of beneficiaries
Sl. No.	District	2021-22	2022-23	2023-2024	2024-25	2025-26 (till 31.10.2025)
1	Baksa	5	0	55	10	1
3	Biswanath	331	397	227	140	482
4	Bongaigaon	339	0	550	88	4
5	Cachar	473	171	0	720	78
6	Charaideo	117	67	153	0	263
7	Dhemaji	512	639	162	164	256
8	Dibrugarh	4101	4548	614	3052	1504
9	Goalpara	118	0	223	0	0
10	Golaghat	2863	3245	983	1653	399
11	Jorhat	1835	1645	881	1060	348
12	Karbi Anglong	403	0	75	685	130
13	Kokrajhar	147	259	0	18	0
14	Lakhimpur	920	927	391	415	736
15	Nagaon	1208	1069	250	961	104
16	Sivasagar	309	0	129	753	466
17	Sonitpur	1144	955	716	478	754
18	Tinsukia	5203	2897	1412	5972	1485
19	Udalguri	1175	1202	417	533	459
TOTAL		21203	18021	7238	16702	7469

Assam tea sector strengthened through TDPS: production, small grower collectivisation and mini factories supported for better quality and exports. The Tea Development & Promotion Scheme for Assam aims to raise production, quality and exports while empowering small tea growers through formation of SHGs/FPOs and support for mini tea factories; Rs.152.76 Crore was allocated and Rs.150.20 Crore utilized (2021 22 to 31.10.2025). Key interventions include replantation (437.42 ha), 318 SHGs, 143 FPOs, 26 FPCs, 31 mini factories, 30.32 ha organic conversion, 30 farm field schools and 1,343 capacity building programmes. DMEO's May 2023 evaluation found satisfactory implementation and recommended replantation, brand promotion, farmer knowledge dissemination and continued capacity building.