Assam Tea Industries Special Incentive Scheme (ATISIS)
5th July, 2021
Context
Recently, Assam Tea Industries Special Incentive Scheme (ATISIS) was launched.
About
To establish a balance between the production of CTC tea and orthodox variety.
Under the ATISIS, the state government will provide interest subvention of three per cent per annum on working capital loan and subsidy of Rs 7 per kg for production of orthodox and speciality varieties.
Orthodox Tea and CTC
Orthodox tea refers to the tea which is made or processed using traditional method.
Orthodox teas are generally bright and brisk and have a multilayered flavor profile.
They are produced using the traditional methods of Tea production which includes plucking, withering , rolling, oxidation and drying.
Orthodox and speciality tea currently account for about 11 per cent of the state's annual production, and the rest is of CTC variety.
Crush, tear, curl (CTC) is a method of processing black tea in which the leaves are passed through a series of cylindrical rollers with hundreds of sharp teeth that crush, tear, and curl the tea into small, hard pellets.
This replaces the final stage of orthodox tea manufacture, in which the leaves are rolled into strips.
Tea produced using this method is generally called CTC tea or mamri tea.