Darjeeling tea to stick own logo for niche marketing

Darjeeling, Nov. 29: The Darjeeling tea industry has developed cold feet towards a plan to bring all brew grown in the country under one brand.

The Tea Board of India is mulling marketing all tea under brand India Tea in the international market instead of selling them separately as Darjeeling, Assam or Nilgiri tea.

At the moment, these tea have their own logos and are marketed as separate brands.

The deputy chairperson of the Tea Board of India, Roshini Sen, said over the phone from Calcutta: “We plan to bring all Indian tea under one umbrella. We cannot make it compulsory for tea growers (like Darjeeling tea and Assam tea) to use the logo (of India Tea) but if they find value in our brand, they are free to use it.”

The Darjeeling Tea Association, however, believes that even if the use of India Tea logo is not made compulsory, the fact that the Tea Board is planning to market all tea under one brand is likely to create confusion among the common man.

Till now, the India Tea logo has a lady in black and white with a wicker basket of three tea leaves strapped to her head. Sources told The Telegraph that a new India Tea logo (see pictures) with the tagline — Celebrate India — is expected to be released in January next year.

“The Darjeeling industry has a niche market and we are constantly working hard to safeguard the brand image. Our industry is very sensitive regarding this issue and we believe that if the Tea Board decides to promote all tea under the India Tea brand it would create confusion as ordinary tea drinkers are not much aware of the different brands. For many, India Tea might mean Darjeeling tea,” said Sandeep Mukherjee, principal adviser to the DTA.

The Darjeeling industry, which consists of one per cent of the total tea grown in the country, also believes that such a move will only help in the export of other Indian tea like Assam, Nilgiri and Dooars, which till now are mostly consumed by the domestic market.

“Probably because we consist of only about one per cent of the total tea grown in the country, the Tea Board is more concerned about the other tea-growing areas of the country. The one-brand move will only help tea whose brand has not been marketed globally and will unnecessarily throw up a new challenge to us,” said Mukherjee.

Darjeeling tea has its own logo which shows a girl holding two leaves with a tea bud and has already been registered as a copyright and trademark in most of the countries around the globe.

“This essentially means that one cannot use the logo of Darjeeling Tea without getting a licence from the Tea Board,” said a Darjeeling tea industry official.

Marketing of all tea under the India Tea brand could start with the launch of the “555” programme. “We have various branding schemes like the 555,” said Sen. Under this marketing programme, Indian tea will be marketed for five years in five destinations of five countries, so the triple fives.

Sources in the know of things said the Union government would be pumping in Rs 100 crore over the next five years for the promotion of India Tea.

“The five countries identified are the US, Russia, Kazakhstan, Egypt and Iran,” said Sen.

Mukherjee said the DTA would take part in this marketing programme but under the Darjeeling tea logo.

“The tea board has invited all the associations to take to the exercise and we will definitely participate in the programme,” said Mukherjee.

TT