Kolkata: Tata Tea Ltd has outlined an innovative brand promotion strategy under which the company will focus more on promoting packet tea rather than loose tea, according to the Tata Tea chairman, Ratan Tata.

"We have decided to shift our focus from loose tea to packet tea," Mr Tata told shareholders at their 39th annual general meeting here on Monday.

He said that the Tata Tea management will focus on developing and promoting a number of brands. "The focus will be more on establishing new brands," Mr Tata said.

Later, Tata Tea’s deputy managing director, PT Siganporia, said the management intends to launch two to three new brands every year. He said the company has set an ambitious target of increasing its exports by around 15 per cent during the current financial year.

"We have identified a couple of new export markets and signs are there that we will be able to surpass our target for the fiscal," Mr Siganporia said.

Earlier, Mr Tata had said that the tea industry is going through a difficult period.

However, there had been a marginal increase in production during the current financial year.

He admitted that Tata Tea is yet to get any returns from its acquisition of the Tetley brand, on which it invested Rs 500 crore. However, the Tetley brand is performing well and Tata Tea expects hefty returns within a short period. Admitting that the general decline in the Indian tea industry has slightly affected the trade margin of Tata Tea, Mr Tata said that decline has been lesser than that of the competitors.

Replying to shareholders, Mr Tata said the management has no intention of increasing its stake in the Barista Cafe chain. "Tata Tea is currently holding 34 per cent in the chain and we are happy with it," he said.

Comm-enting on the shifting of the research & development division from Kolkata to Bangalore, the Tata Tea chairman said that this was done to centralise the R&D operations for both tea and coffee. "In fact, this shifting will help us in optimising our R&D operations," he said.

The managing director, HR Khusrokhan, told reporters later that there had been a decline in the market share of Tata Tea during the financial year 2001-02. "However, there have been signs of recovery during the fist few months of 2002-03," he said.

He also said that the Tata Tea management increased the production of orthodox tea to 3 million kg during the current year.

Mr Khusrokhan said the company expects to reduce the numbers of its non-plantation workers by around 12 per cent via the voluntary retirement scheme floated recently.

"The total VRS outgo is expected to be around Rs 25 crore," he said. Tata Tea has around 3,500 non-plantation workers.