Tea experts from Russia, which is a major buyer of Indian tea, told tea growers Saturday to improve quality or lose more Russian business.
India is the world's largest tea manufacturer, producing a total of 864 million kilograms of tea last year. But the 1.5 billion dollar industry is facing a crisis with sliding exports, especially to Russia.
"People in Russia don't want to drink Indian teas due to their quality," said Ganievich Gantsev, who headed a team of tea tasters and traders to the north-eastern state of Assam, which accounts for 55 percent of India's total production.
India faces stiff competition in the export market from Kenya and Sri Lanka but remains the world's biggest single exporter, supplying some 24 percent of the global market. A decade ago, Indian tea sales accounted for nearly 40 percent of the world market.
The Russian delegation had earlier visited tea industry officials and planters in southern India.
"Quality apart, tea growers should consider lowering prices of tea, besides sending consignments on time," Gantsev, a tea taster from Bashkortostan in Ural, told planters and officials at the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre in Assam's main city of Guwahati.
"For us back home in Russia, it's more profitable selling Sri Lankan teas than the Indian brew as it's cheap and consistent quality-wise."
The former Soviet Union was India's largest market for tea. After its break-up in 1991, Russia headed the buyers' list, accounting for about 50 percent of India's total exports.
In 1991, India exported about 110 million kilogrammes of tea to Russia but last year the amount totalled just 50 million kilogrammes, tea board officials said.
India's overall exports have posted a drop - from 240 million kilogrammes in 1991 to 164.8 million kilogrammes last year, the officials said.
A kilogram (2.2 pounds) of good quality Assam tea fetched about 100 rupees (2.20 dollars) four years ago. But at the regular weekly auction Wednesday, a kilogram sold for 70 rupees (1.5 dollars).
The visit by the tea tasters to India came at the invitation of the Tea Board of India, the country's top administrative and regulatory authority.
"We need to change our outlook if we're serious about competing in the world market," said Assam planter B.S. Sharma.
Some tea experts attribute the decline in Indian tea quality to a desire to cut costs to counter competition. But they say the move has backfired as buyers have turned to other nations for supply.