Less Bonus by Tea Estates Likely: North Eastern Tea Association

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The North Eastern Tea Association (NETA) has dropped a hint that this year most of the tea estates in State may not be in a position to pay 20 per cent bonus to their labourers because of losses they had to suffer.

India, the second-largest tea producer and the 4th largest exporter in the world, has been playing a vital role in socio-economic development. However, the tea industry is now going through acute distress and challenges, posing a threat to its viability. Interacting with the media in a press meet at Vivekananda Kendra here on Tuesday, Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations (CCPA) mentioned that this sector is reeling under the pressure of production cost due to the stagnation in prices. It says that the demand-supply mismatch leads to oversupply, high transaction costs and other challenges at the auctions etc. The CCPA now appeals to the State government and the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry for urgent intervention.

The CCPA said, “There is the need for a sustainable Minimum Benchmark Price (MBP) for green leaf, as the contribution of small tea growers in Indian tea production is close to 50%. Fixing an MBP can cover the cost of production of the small tea growers. There is a need to review the price sharing formula of green leaf supplied by small growers. There’s need of creating a financial aid package for the tea industry providing working capital loans with interest subvention along with provision for a year-year moratorium and the government may consider taking over of employers’ portion of contribution to the provident fund for a period of at least 3 years. Bidyananda Barkakoty, adviser, North Eastern Tea Association (NETA) said, “In Assam, 90% of CTC tea is produced. If we look at the figures of 2019 and 2020, we’ll notice that we’re going through a huge loss. For which we’re feeling it is very critical for our survival. For the last few years even after not having allocable surplus, we’ve been providing 20% bonus to our labourers. Though we want to provide bonus as much as we can, this year we may not be able to give that amount. We’re thinking of giving bonus as per the bonus Act. We urge the government to help us to go through this huge crisis so as to enable us to pay a higher percentage of bonus to the labourers. We urge the government for power subsidy and 3% subsidy in working capital loan for three to five years so as to let us get ourselves out of the current crisis.”

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