In an ‘Expression of Interest’ (EoI) announced by ‘Tea Board India’ on October 17, 2019, top corporates and tech giants such as Infosys, Amazon, and Yes Bank beside 25 companies have shown acute interest to help Tea Board use blockchain and associated technology solutions to bring traceability in the complete value chain of tea trade.

The selected company will advise on cost optimization and help them enhance the efficacy of the tea trading process on a long-term basis.

In an ET report, the deputy chairman ‘Arun Kumar Ray’ of Tea Board India said that this activity of leveraging blockchain technology would help them in determining the traceability of the produce, particularly the conventional blends of tea.

Ray further stated that India is the ‘second-largest producer of tea’ after China. By using this technology, the Tea Board will be able to determine the purity, quality, and assay of the tea shipped from the country.

Throwing light on the present dilemma in the tea trading market in India, Ray stated that the country is not getting a reasonable price in the foreign markets, as tea exports have been inactive at 250 Mn kg year-on-year. He further noted that if this state continues, the plantation owners and the laborers will go out of business, and the allegedly delicate plucking, which India is famous for, might even disappear.

Ray further added that Tea growers need to obtain better prices of their produce. Otherwise, they will not be able to pay higher wages to the tea plantation laborers. Ray added.

The Indian government has been a keen supporter of blockchain and is working on a strategy to scale up and widely use this new technology. Currently, ‘Sanjay Dhotre,’ said that blockchain technology has the potential to affect various segments such as BFSI, governance, cybersecurity, etc. MeitY, i.e., the ministry of electronics and information technology, is planning to form a national level blockchain framework to help the country embrace blockchain technology faster.

According to the ‘MarketsandMarkets report,’ the blockchain technology in the agriculture market and food supply chain is predicted to reach ‘$429.7 Mn’ by 2023, growing at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of ‘47.8%’.

It stated that the majority of the applications of blockchain technology in food and agriculture comprise payment and settlement, traceability and tracking, governance, smart contracts, and risk complaint management.

The growth is assumed to be the most in the ‘Asia Pacific market’ thanks to the highest contamination cases being reported in countries like China and India.