Govt takes the move to facilitate tea growers to get low-interest bank loans
The government has taken an initiative to declare 60 per cent of tea production activities as agricultural activities to facilitate investors in the tea sector to get bank loans at low interest rate for reviving the glory of tea in the export market, said officials of commerce and agriculture ministries.
The sixty per cent of the tea production activities includes producing tea seedlings, planting, nurturing and tea leaves plucking, they said.
The rest 40 per cent activities in the tea production will be considered as industry, they said.
Officials said if the facility is given, tea production in the country would increase significantly as bank loans with easy terms would encourage tea growers to expand their business through bringing uncultivated portion of the existing tea gardens under cultivation.
Currently, 6,440 hectares of land in 106 tea estates remain uncultivated due to lack of new investment in the sector, they said.
-With New Age input
