Guwahati, March 31: The Assam government has disbursed financial incentives to the tune of Rs 64.05 crore to 370 tea gardens under the Assam Tea Industry Special Incentive Scheme 2020.
The scheme was originally formulated by the state government to mitigate the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tea industry.
Attending the ceremonial distribution of financial incentives to the tea gardens here on Thursday, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the tea industry is the backbone of the economy of the state, contributing to nearly 90 percent of gross export value and providing either direct or indirect employment avenues to more than a million people.
“It is due to the overwhelming effect of the tea industry on the economy of Assam that the state government came up with the Assam Tea Industry Special Incentive Scheme to help the sector absorb some of the shocks of the deleterious impact of COVID-19,” Sarma said.
Elaborating on its components, the chief minister said, apart from providing interest subvention of three percent on working capital loans of tea gardens, promotion of production of orthodox tea over traditional crush-tear-curl (CTC) tea has also been accorded due attention.
“It is with this aim that under the scheme, a subsidy of Rs 10 per kilogram of orthodox and other special varieties of tea has been incorporated,” the chief minister said.
“To mark the 200th anniversary of tea production in the state, an additional Rs two for per kilogram of orthodox tea has been fixed for the financial year 2023-24,” he said.
“Moreover, a subsidy of 25 percent shall be provided by the government to tea gardens to set up units for orthodox tea production,” the chief minister stated, adding that the government shall also forgo agricultural income tax accruing from tea gardens for the next three financial years.