Guwahati, Jan. 29 -- The Tea Association of India (TAI) has raised serious concerns over a massive discrepancy in the figures of tea imports into India and the data published by the Tea Board of India, signalling possible large-scale violations of existing import-export regulations.

According to TAI, the Tea (Distribution & Export) Control Order, 2005, mandates that any tea exported under the label of "Indian Tea" or a specific Indian tea-growing region must be 100% Indian in origin.

However, TAI president Sandeep Singhania has alleged that imported tea is being blended and falsely branded as Indian tea, which is a clear violation of this regulation.

Mismatched Import and export data

Singhania highlighted that despite the Tea Board of...