Competitiveness and Performance of Tea Exports of India

The research paper examined the region-wise production growth and major country-wise export growth of Indian tea and reached the conclusion that North India was producing the larger share of total tea production with a compound annual growth rate of 3.24%. India exported tea to various global markets such as Turkey, Ukraine, the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Singapore, and Japan during the period from 1990 - 1991 to 2013 - 2014. Over the decade, India remained at the top position in international tea exports market. The growth index of North and South India during the year 2013 - 2014 was 150.82% and 118.23%, respectively. Tea production of India met the demand of importing countries as well domestic demand. The total tea export of India in 1990 - 1991 was valued at ` 1071.10 crores and in 2013-14, it was valued at ` 4509.09 crores. In country-wise analysis, Turkey with 57.81% CAGR obtained the top position out of all major countries importing Indian tea, followed by Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, other CIS, and Iran. On the basis of country-wise analysis, it can be concluded that the export concentration was in a few countries, which is an issue that needs to be addressed with various policy reforms for the growth of the Indian tea sector.