By Dr. Neelam Tandon
People in India and in Britain have unconditional love for Chai and Tea respectively. As per UK Tea and Infusions Association, the country 42,700,000 cups of tea were consumed on 3rd July 2019 by 15.43 PM Indian Time and the figure is changing every fraction of second. facts about tea that everybody should know as ,
- “Tea break time has been with Britain since last 200years”,
- “80 percent of workers they say they get the most valuable information about work when they have a cup of tea with their colleagues” ,
- “The first book about tea was written by Lu Yu in 800 A.D”,
- “96% of all cups of tea drunk daily in the UK are brewed from tea bags”,
Apart from tourism, tea is the biggest industrial activity in India”.Keeping into consideration the immense demand for tea in Britain they are running a UK Tea Academy with different modules to guide people to start their Tea business with success. The immense demand for tea has created the platform for UK Tea Academy in UK and India is having its place in UK Tea and Infusions Association as a country known for Tourism and Tea Production. That itself is an indication that India is known in the international market for its Chai.
Factors Affecting Demand for Chai in India
The demand for Chai in different parts of India varies depending on culture and demographic and economic profile of consumers and price of chai. Tea Board of India had conducted a Tea Consumption survey and the major highlights of the survey are as follows:
1. As per survey results almost 88 percent of the sample households were tea consumers. But there was no significant difference found in consumption pattern of tea based on their socio economic classes, since tea is an integral part of Indian culture and is one of the most affordable beverages in India ranging from two rupees per cup to 300 to 500 rupees per cup or may be higher. Hence almost every Indian can afford to consume tea.
2. In Southern and Western India consumption of chai outside home is in higher proportion as compared to North, Central and East India. Due to higher level of development, urbanization , higher level of workforce and commercial activities , more people travel and stay long hours outside home for work related issues .
3. Over 80 percent of the people consume tea either before breakfast or with breakfast resulting in high consumption of tea within home.People who drink chai with milk have preference to drink ginger and cardamom tea but non milk tea drinkers prefer green tea and lemon tea.
4. Biscuits are the popular choice of accompaniments while having tea in home. One can get Parle –G biscuits at rupees five for 99 grams and Cadbury Orio chocolate flavouredat rupees 20 for 50 grams. As per the survey result the western states have a significant proportion of households preferring salted snacks with tea which can be attributed to the growing purchasing power in the region.
5. Close to 80% of the households (in Urban India) and around ~ 75% of the households (in Rural India) have preference to buy packed tea due to preference to quality over quantity. The survey result depicts comparatively higher proportion of loose teain the Eastern compared to the rest of the country because these states have tea plants and production is in bulk.
The determinants of Chai demand in India are :
1. Affordability or the price at which one can consume tea with a willingness to pay for a cup of chai which gives satisfaction (utility) to a person who consumes chai.
2. The economic factor such as working hours in office or out of home with urbanization and commercial activities increase tea consumption
3. Taste and preference of a consumer decides to have chai with milk with ginger or green tea.
4. Chai with biscuits or slated snacks and tea are relished by people when they are having it together hence chai and biscuits and Chai and salted snacks are complementary products for major proportion of Indians and for western state of India respectively.
5. Parle –G biscuits and Cadbury Orio chocolate biscuits can be preferred depending on income and preference. Hence Parle-G or Cadbury Orio chocolate biscuits can be substituted.
6.Quality of tea becomes important parameter of demand with increase in income.
Please go through the links attached to have insights to British tea and Indian culture
1http://www.teaboard.gov.in/pdf/Executive_Summary_Tea_Consumption_20062018_pdf5940.pdf
Dr. Neelam Tandon
Post: Professor
Jims Kalkaji
