Assam is paying its tea gardens to make more of the whole-leaf orthodox and specialty tea a drinker seeks out, disbursing Rs 94.70 crore to 486 gardens on March 9 under a scheme built to grow that side of the industry, Finance Minister Ajanta Neog said.

The payout runs under the Assam Tea Industries Special Incentive Scheme, known as ATISIS, for the current financial year, Neog said. It is aimed at orthodox and specialty tea alone, the whole-leaf styles that fetch a higher price than ordinary CTC in the cup and at auction, but cost more for a garden to make.

ATISIS covers four things, Neog said: a 3% annual interest subvention on working capital loans, a per-kilogram production subsidy for orthodox or specialty tea, a 25% subsidy on the plant and machinery orthodox and specialty units need, and an agricultural income tax holiday running through the 2026 to 2027 financial year. The per-kilogram subsidy stands at Rs 10, with the state moving to raise it to Rs 15, Neog said.

Orthodox tea keeps the leaf whole through rolling and drying, rather than cutting it into the granules CTC machines produce. It is the style behind Assam's protected orthodox name and the minority method most Assam gardens do not run, because whole-leaf lines cost more to build and staff than a CTC line does.

Assam grows more than half of India's tea by volume, but only a fraction of it as orthodox. The subsidy is meant to make the switch, or the expansion, pencil out for gardens weighing whether to add a whole-leaf line.

The disbursement follows a Rs 99 crore round paid to 378 gardens for the prior financial year, a wider pool of 486 gardens sharing this year's total. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Assam's tea exports rose by 40 million kilograms in the 2025 to 2026 financial year, The News Mill reported.

Sources: The News Mill, "Assam releases Rs 94.70 crore to tea industry under special incentive scheme"; The Sentinel Assam, "Assam Distributes Rs 94 Crore Among 486 Tea Gardens Under Special Incentive Scheme".