‘I’m not sure that GI has helped Darjeeling tea’
Darjeeling tea, as a term and a logo, were India’s first ever Geographical Indications, when they were registered in 2004. But efforts to protect the tea — some 87 estates in Darjeeling produce a mere 8 million kg a year — began more than a decade earlier. A logo identifying all tea from the region was created in 1986 and registered in the UK, US, Canada, Japan and Egypt, and later in a few European markets. By 1999, a trademark was in place.
Prabhat Kamal Bezboruah, who owns the Bokahola Tea Co in Assam, was a member of Tea Board India in 2011, when the GI tag was recognised by the European Union. Like many, he hoped that Darjeeling’s tea industry, which exports close to 80% of its produce, would be protected from adulteration, misrepresentation and price fluctuations in the export market.
Some battles have been won. The GI tag has helped the Tea Board stop other brands from trademarking the term Darjeeling for their teas, kettle sets and fragrances. Assam and Nilgiri teas have been accorded GIs since, as have several coffees. But the war is far over, says Bezboruah, who has headed the Tea Board since 2017.
Unless you’re selling directly to a customer who already knows your product, a GI tag will be of no help.
PRABHAT KAMAL BEZBORUAH, chairman, Tea Board India
Getting Darjeeling Tea recognised in a key international market must have been an exciting moment.
It was! It also came during one of the worst periods for the tea business. There was oversupply. We hadn’t anticipated that buyers, mostly middlemen who packaged Indian tea for private brands, would rally together to suppress prices. Anindita Ray, the Tea Board’s director of tea promotion, laid the groundwork for GI in 2004 and now we had global recognition. In theory, no one could adulterate Darjeeling tea with a lower-quality leaf. We all hoped for rich dividends.
How did it really work out?
I’m not sure the tag has helped. In many ways, we’re worse off. Once our packagers saw that GI affected their business model — they couldn’t claim their tea was Darjeeling unless it came from us — they simply dropped Darjeeling tea and started picking up similar teas from Nepal that they could blend. Perhaps we should have talked to the buyers before the GI. We’d expected Darjeeling to be the draw, but the irony is that unless you’re selling directly to a customer who already knows your product, a GI tag is of no help. Unlike Champagne and Parma ham, Darjeeling tea wasn’t as recognised or sought-after.
What lessons can other groups seeking GI tags for their foods learn from the Darjeeling case?
For any food to succeed commercially, you need more than GI. You must first create a brand, build recall, and have direct access to your customer. Even today, while India produces 8 million kilos of Darjeeling tea, there’s about 25 million kilos of it in the market. The brand has recall but also dilution; not all tea that claims to be from Darjeeling is actually from here. The way to control that is to sell at source, not in bulk. At best, having Geographical Indications in India offer protection from being ripped off in export markets. No one will be able to pass off, say, Peruvian mangoes as Alphonso. But it won’t matter if there isn’t a global market for Alphonso in the first place.