TEA-Gift for Private Sector

TEA Gift for Private Sector Sharit Bhowmik THE Tea Board has recently released its Draft Seventh Five-Year Plan for the Tea Industry (1985-86 to 1989-90). The plan is quite impressive in terms of outlay, which is three times higher than the outlay in the previous plan. The Sixth Plan (1980-81 to 1984- 35) had an outlay of Rs 300 crore, whereas this plan has an outlay of Rs 900 crore. The Tea Board's contribution is to be Rs 130 crore, and the industry is to generate Rs 300 crore, that is, 33 per cent of the total outlay. The rest will be borne by the financial institutions such as NABARD, IDBI, commercial banks and the State Financial Corporations. By the end of the plan period, production is expected to incease from 625.55 million kg estimated for 1984-85 to 766 million kg in