Title: Classification of Indian tea supply chain - in context of Assam

Authors: Tripti Paul; Sandeep Mondal

Addresses: Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad, Police Line, Sardar Patel Nagar, Hirapur, Dhanbad, Jharkhand 826004, India ' Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad, Police Line, Sardar Patel Nagar, Hirapur, Dhanbad, Jharkhand 826004, India

Abstract: There exists insufficient literature on classification and taxonomy of Indian tea supply chain (TSC), so the basic objectives of this study are to identify the existing TSCs and classify them accordingly. The paper is based on a three-year detailed field study on TSC in Assam which encompasses tea-estates, small tea gardens (STGs), bought leaf factories (BLFs), research institute, auction centres, branding companies, tea distributors, and retailers. The paper presented an incorporated structure that includes all the stakeholders with their roles in tea value chain. This has not been reported in previous research. The study also develops an integrated tea supply chain framework and apart from this, classifies the tea supply chain in context of Assam, India. The present study will help further research to optimise business operations and maximising the profit of the Indian tea industry.

Keywords: tea industry; tea research centre; tea estate; small tea garden; green tea leaves; GTL; plucking; tea factory; bought leaf factory; tea auction centre; tea branding company; value chain; supply chain framework.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPMB.2021.113738

International Journal of Process Management and Benchmarking, 2021 Vol.11 No.2, pp.220 - 253

Received: 04 Oct 2018
Accepted: 01 Nov 2018
Published online: 22 Mar 2021 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article