SME Times News Bureau | 21 Dec, 2011
The G.P. Goenka-run Duncan Group Tuesday said the recent hike in labour wages will increase production cost of tea by Rs.12-15 per kg, but it will not pass the burden on to the buyers.

"The recent hike in labour wages for the Terai and Dooars region will increase the cost of production of tea and it will go up by Rs.12-15 per kg," Duncan group chairman G.P. Goenka told reporters in Kolkata.

Goenka, however, said: "We will not pass it on to the buyers."

He said the production cost at present was around Rs.120 per kg.

Tea wages for workers of the Terai and Dooars gardens were revised at a tripartite meeting in West Bengal first week of November. The increase of wages by Rs.18 made it almost equal to the amount that the workers in the Darjeeling gardens have been getting since April 2011.

The Duncan Group currently produces around 15 million kg of tea per year.

Goenka informed that the company was planning to increase replantation work from 3.5 percent of the total garden area to 5 percent this year.

The chairman said the company was aiming to grow its tea portfolio "very substantially" and open to acquire "viable" gardens.

"We plan to grow our tea portfolio very substantially. We are open to acquiring (gardens) anywhere if found viable," he added.