Boost for Tripura’s Century-Old Tea Industry, State Govt Approves New Auction Centre

Agartala: In a significant development for Tripura’s century-old tea industry, the state government has decided to establish a dedicated auction centre to enhance the value of the finished products, announced a senior official on Wednesday. Currently, tea planters in the region are compelled to sell their products at auction centers in Guwahati or Kolkata.

Following a recent visit by a NITI Aayog team to the state, the establishment of the auction centre in West Tripura’s Durgabari Tea estate received approval, as disclosed by the official. Chief Minister Manik Saha, during the first meeting of Tripura Institution for Transformation (TIFT) on Tuesday, shared the decision to set up the auction centre.

This move addresses a long-standing demand from tea planters in the state, which annually produces 90 lakh kg of tea. The Tripura Tea Development Corporation Ltd (TTDC) welcomed the government’s decision, anticipating that it would enable tea planters to fetch reasonable prices for their products.

TTDC chairman Samir Ghosh emphasized the need for additional incentives, such as transportation subsidies and state GST reductions, to attract buyers from outside the state to the proposed auction centre. Tripura boasts 60 tea estates, with 42 privately owned, 13 operated by cooperative societies, and the rest belonging to TTDC. The tea industry directly and indirectly engages around 80,000 individuals in the northeastern state.

Notably, Tripura’s tea received its unique logo and brand, “Tripureswari Tea,” in 2018. The establishment of the auction centre is poised to bring positive changes to the tea industry and bolster the economic prospects of tea producers in the region.