GUWAHATI
The Assam Congress has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to supply a special package deal for the revival of Assam’s tea industry, caught in a disaster on account of local weather change-induced manufacturing losses and the drastic fall in inexperienced leaf costs.
In a letter to the Prime Minister on Thursday (September 18, 2025), Congress Legislature Party chief Debabrata Saikia additionally reminded him of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) unfulfilled ballot promise to extend the wages of tea plantation employees and grant them the Scheduled Tribe (ST) standing.
Mr Saikia mentioned the Prime Minister had visited Assam twice in eight months in 2025 and introduced tasks value greater than ₹19,000 crore whereas highlighting his affiliation as a ‘chaiwallah’. About 35 lakh folks depending on the tea industry had additionally anticipated a complete rejuvenation package deal, however have been left disenchanted, he mentioned.
Climate change influence
“The tea industry in Assam, which contributes 55% of India’s total tea production, is experiencing a catastrophic decline with production falling by 7.8%. This sector, providing direct employment to over 1 million workers, is facing severe economic distress as tea leaf prices have collapsed from ₹52 per kg to ₹15 per kg, significantly below the production cost of ₹25-27 per kg,” he wrote.
Mr Saikia mentioned tea planters and producers have been hit laborious by climate-related vulnerabilities, similar to irregular rainfall and a rise in temperatures in essential tea-growing areas similar to japanese Assam’s Jorhat to 40-41°C, exceeding the optimum 27°C required for high quality tea cultivation. “These alarming statistics underscore the urgent need for comprehensive intervention to prevent the complete collapse of this vital industry,” he mentioned.
Wage comparability
The Congress chief lamented the Prime Minister’s failure to reside as much as his 2014 ballot promise to lift the wages of Assam’s tea employees to ₹351 per day. “The workers in Assam currently receive ₹220-250 per diem, which is significantly less than the ₹470 per day their counterparts in Kerala, and the ₹480 per day tea workers in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu get,” he mentioned.
He additionally drew Mr. Modi’s consideration to the plight of the six lakh employees in small tea gardens, who stay exterior the ambit of fundamental wage protections. These small tea gardens contribute 40% of general tea manufacturing in Assam.
Mr. Saikia additional sought an overhaul of India’s tea public sale system, which is “increasingly disadvantaging producers, especially small tea growers and the bought leaf factories, as prices remain volatile, transparency is eroding, and a large proportion of teas are left unsold”.
He identified that solely 44% (600 million kg) of India’s complete annual manufacturing of 1,350 million kg of tea is offered via auctions, down from greater than 40% two years in the past. This is as a result of giant patrons desire personal gross sales, weakening competitors and worth discovery, he mentioned.
Unsold teas
“Unsold teas have also risen sharply, with Guwahati auctions recording 36% unsold lots in 2025-26, up from 23% the previous financial year, while Kolkata saw an increase from 18% to 26%. At the grassroots level, small tea growers are receiving only ₹13-15 per kg for green tea leaf, while the processing cost is ₹19-20 per kg, pushing growers into distress,” Mr. Saikia mentioned.
He mentioned the challenges confronted by the tea industry will be fastened by setting a minimal sustainable worth for made tea and inexperienced leaf linked to the manufacturing value, making it obligatory to promote a vital proportion of tea via auctions, curbing purchaser cartelisation via stricter regulation, and guaranteeing faster fee cycles to guard producers’ money circulate.
Mr. Saikia additionally sought the rapid restoration of the ₹50-crore annual funding to the Tocklai Tea Research Institute to rejuvenate important analysis programmes and the allocation of ₹200 crore for a Climate Adaptation Research Mission centered on growing drought-resistant tea varieties.
