Brewing challenges

As duty-free tea varieties from Nepal flood the domestic market, challenging the iconic Darjeeling tea, India walks a tightrope, weighing geopolitical calculations and domestic political considerations. Ishita Ayan Dutt gives details

- 

Falling production, shrinking global footprint, and a flood of cheaper imports from neighboring Nepal – Darjeeling tea, celebrated as the "Champagne of teas", is losing its aroma.

The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government has sounded the alarm urging the Centre to invoke the safeguard clause in the India-Nepal trade treaty, seeking protection for Darjeeling tea from the surge of unregulated Nepalese imports.

Signed in 2009 and renewed every seven years, the India-Nepal treaty provides for a safeguard clause, which can be triggered if imports under the pact cause or threaten to cause serious injury to the domestic industry relating to any item. The determination of ‘serious injury’ is in accordance with the WTO Safeguard Agreement.

But will the Centre risk straining ties with a key neighbour? Darjeeling, it seems, is caught in the crossfire of a classic Catch-22.

Level playing field with Nepal Cheap tea varieties from Nepal, often indistinguishable to the average buyer, have duty-free access to the Indian market and have been a challenger to the Darjeeling tea for some time.