Andrew Yule to bid for sick, closed Darjeeling tea gardens

Andrew Yule & Co Ltd (AYL), which has 15 tea gardens under its control, is likely to bid for four sick and closed Darjeeling gardens, owned by West Bengal Tea Development Corporation, on offer for 30-year renewable lease.

The public sector company has already expressed its interest and the Board last week empowered Kallol Datta, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, for the bid.

Datta said: “We are contemplating to bid for the gardens.” Andrew Yule, which has just one tea garden in Darjeeling, will bid in the auction of the Pandem, Rangaroon, Rungmook and Cedar tea estates, which constitute one of the two packets up for sale.

According to sources, all the four put together will have a total lease area of around 1,232 hectares.

However, the tea cultivation area of the estates is estimated around 638 hectares and the rest is used for other infrastructure, including workers’ colonies.

About 2,408 plantation workers were on the rolls of these estates, which have to be absorbed by the successful bidders.

Technical bids are to be placed early next month, which would be followed by financial bids.

A few more city-based private tea planters have also expressed interest in the Darjeeling gardens, sources said.

The West Bengal government-owned gardens are poorly maintained, and needed long-term investment to become a profitable.

The gardens are low yielding; this year production is 1.34 lakh kg.

The Assam government had also offered to sale its 15 sick gardens to AYL. However, the company has not taken any decision on such direct sale offer.

Datta said AYL formally launched its on-line packet tea-marketing portal on Wednesday. This is part of an aggressive domestic sale plan.

Since last year, AYL has also gone into direct export sale to a number of customers. This year, the company expects to produce 12 million kg of tea, slightly higher than last year.

It expects to record a tea turnover of ₹204 crore this fiscal against ₹183 crore last year.

It has planned to setup a series of its branded tea lounges and kiosks at airports and in cities on its own or through franchises.