Stylish Teas

The Indian tea industry is pushing forward a campaign to position the traditional brew as a lifestyle drink.

An initial investment of Indian Rs. 20 million is being pumped in by the private sector for the nationwide campaign.





The lifestyle campaign will is expected to increase per capita consumption levels from 0.

660 grams per annum to 0.730 grams. Sri Lankan tea exporters say the campaign would promote the industry as a whole but will have little benefit to the local exporters in the near future.

l" In the long term we could expect some of the benefits to trickle down to Sri Lanka, specially with the iced teas and the new flavors that have been introduced recently" , industry officials said. India consumes an average of 675 million tones of tea a year of the 850 million tones it produces.

The immediate rise in demand will be met with their present export quantity.



Indian officials feel that the campaign would also take the battle right into the territories of colas.

l" The idea will be to try convert the cola drinkers to tea drinkers. If the generic promo is a success, different delivery mechanisms and innovative formats of the commodity can be experimented by the tea companies" , a senior tea company official told an international news service.