The number of tea gardens benefited from SPTF adds up to 707. This includes Assam (395), West Bengal (218), Tamil Nadu (39), Kerala (33), Tripura (19) and Karnataka (3).

Under the 11th Plan schemes, Government is promoting export of Tea thorough Tea Board by supporting its promotional campaigns, Buyer Seller Meets, Tea Tasting Sessions, Trade Fairs, International Conventions and incentive to exporters. This apart, value addition of tea is encouraged by way of providing subsidy for (i) replacement of old and worn out machinery, (ii) procurement of processing machinery for orthodox tea in 100% Crush, Tear and Curl (CTC) factories and creating additional infrastructure for cleaning, blending, colour sorting, packaging, etc.

This information was given by Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.