INDIAN TEA START-UPS TASTING SUCCESS IN OVERSEAS MARKETS

While Seattle-based Teavana enters India through the Starbucks stores and hopes to double its tea sales, Indian tea start-ups are wary of tasting success in the domestic market anytime soon. “Today, almost 85 per cent of our revenues come from the overseas market and we do not see this ratio changing in the foreseeable future. Despite India being a tea-drinking nation, it can never be as big as the US market for loose premium teas. In fact we have even managed to convert some of the Teavana drinkers to Teabox in the US,’’ says Kaushal Dugar, Founder and CEO, Teabox. At the same time, these start-ups are willing to give a leg up to the mass Indian brands that want to dabble in the premium loose tea segment. “We expect mass brands from HUL and Tata Global Beverages to become our strategic partners in future if they wanted to enter the premium tea segment and we have held some discussions with some of them,’’ added Sarda. With Ratan Tata as an investor in Teabox, it may be a matter of time before Teabox gives inputs to Tata Global Beverages to upgrade its portfolio into the super premium end of the loose tea market. “Ratan Tata is already the owner of the largest tea company in India and we would be keen to have some of the corporates approach us as we make quality single estate tea blends and are even more premium than Teavana in the US,’’ added Dugar. .