The Tea Research Centre in Kurseong where the foundation stone of a Pesticide Residue Laboratory will be laid by Jairam Ramesh on January 15. Picture by Vivek Singh

Darjeeling, Jan. 12: The 160-year-old Darjeeling Tea industry has finally made a concrete effort to familiarise itself with modern business practices by deciding to set up a Centre of Excellence.

The centre will be a one-stop facility that will conduct research and look into all aspects of branded brew.

The foundation stone of the centre — an initiative by the Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA) — will be laid by Jairam Ramesh, Union minister of state for commerce and power, at Darjeeling Planter’s Club on January 16.

The centre is being set up at a time when the Darjeeling Tea has failed to increase its annual production beyond 10 million kg and register any significant rise in prices at auctions.

“We always believed that the illegal entry of Nepal tealeaves to the Darjeeling hills were having a negative effect on prices in auctions. Although the entry of illegal tealeaves has stopped to a large extend, the price realisation has not been significant. We need to work out better marketing strategies and make a serious attempt to overhaul the century-old machines being used in the gardens,” said a DTA official.

Sanjay Bansal, chairman, DTA, speaking over the phone from Calcutta, said the centre was a landmark initiative in the history of Darjeeling Tea. “It will help the Darjeeling Tea industry survive for 100 more years. Research on ways to minimise power consumption during manufacturing and study on soil chemistry and production methods will be conducted at the centre. It will be a one stop place for all issues Darjeeling Tea faces in marketing and promotion. The facility will help maintain the Darjeeling brand equity in terms of the protection of intellectual property rights.”

Darjeeling Tea has been classified as a geographic indicator product in 2003, which essentially means that only tealeaves grown in the registered tea gardens of Darjeeling can be sold as Darjeeling Tea.