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