 | |
| Formerly | Tata Tea Limited Tata Global Beverages Limited |
|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| |
| ISIN | INE192A01025 |
| Industry | Fast-moving consumer goods |
| Headquarters | Kolkata, India[1] |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Natarajan Chandrasekaran (Chairman) Sunil D’Souza (CEO & MD) |
| Revenue |  ₹17,811 crore (US$2.1 billion) (FY2025) |
| ₹1,776 crore (US$210 million) (FY2025) | |
| ₹1,380 crore (US$160 million) (FY2025) | |
| Total assets | ₹31,977 crore (US$3.8 billion) (FY2025) |
| Total equity | ₹21,390 crore (US$2.5 billion) (FY2025) |
Number of employees | 4,517 (2024) |
| Parent | Tata Group |
| Subsidiaries | |
| Website | www |
| Footnotes / references Financials as of 31 March 2025[update].[2] | |
Tata Consumer Products Limited is an Indianfast-moving consumer goods company and a part of theTata Group.[3] Its registered office is located inKolkata while its corporate headquarters is inMumbai. It is the world's second-largest manufacturer and distributor oftea and a major producer ofcoffee.[4]
Formerly known as Tata Global Beverages Limited (TGBL), Tata Consumer Products was formed when the consumer products business ofTata Chemicals merged with Tata Global Beverages in February 2020.[5] The company now operates in the food and beverages industry, with ~56% of their revenue coming from India while the rest is from their international businesses. After the merger, the company controls Indian and international brands likeTata Salt, Tata Tea,Tetley,Eight O'Clock Coffee,Good Earth Tea, Tata Sampann andTata Starbucks.[6]
Tata Tea is the biggest-selling tea brand in India.Tetley is the biggest-selling tea brand in Canada and the second-biggest-selling in the United Kingdom and the United States.[7]
In the early 1980s, the tea industry in India was experiencing rising input and labour costs and dwindling margins as well as high taxes. India was facing competition in the world market not just from China, but also from other countries entering the business.
In 1983, Tata Tea bought the stake belonging to theJames Finlay group to form the individual entity Tata Tea. In the same year, the company decided to move from the commodities business to consumer branding. The first brand Tata Tea was introduced. This was followed by other brands likeKannan Devan, Agni, Gemini and Chakra Gold. In spite of being the largest market in the world, the concept of branded tea took time to be accepted.[citation needed]
In 1987, Tata Tea set up a fully owned subsidiary, Tata Tea Inc., in the United States.[8]
In the 1990s, Tata Tea decided to take its brands into the global markets. It formed an export joint venture withBritain's Tetley Tea in 1992. Other new enterprises included a majority interest in Consolidated Coffee Ltd. (Tata Coffee Ltd.) and a joint venture to manage agricultural estates in Sri Lanka. Tata Tea Inc. in the United States processed and marketed instant tea from its facility inFlorida, based on the sourcing of instant tea products out ofMunnar andKerala. In 1993, they entered into a joint venture withAllied Lyons PLC in the UK to form Estate Tata Tetley.
In the mid-1990s, Tata Tea attempted to buy Tetley and the Lankan JVC acquired 51% shareholding in Watawala Plantations Ltd.
In 1997 the company was embroiled in a major scandal known as the "Tata Tapes controversy" which related to funds the company provided to the outlawedUnited Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), an armed-struggle group operating inAssam.
By 1999, Tata Tea's brands had a combined market share of 25% in India.[citation needed] The company had 74 tea gardens and was producing 6.2crore kilograms of tea a year, two-thirds of it packaged and branded. Towards the end of the year, the tea business was hit by a drought in much of India. In addition, Russia, once the largest buyer of Indian tea, temporarily withdrew from the market.
Tata Tea acquired theTetley Group (based in the United Kingdom) in 2000. It was a £271 million ($432 million) leveraged buyout. Tata Tea reportedly outbid the American conglomerateSara Lee in what was described, at the time, as the largest takeover of a foreign company by an Indian company. At the time, Tetley was the world's second-largest tea company afterUnilever'sBrooke Bond-Lipton and had an annual turnover of £300 million. It was the market leader in Britain and Canada and a popular brand in the United States,Australia and theMiddle East.[citation needed]
Established in 1837, Tetley was the firstBritish tea company to introduce the tea bag to the UK in 1953. The tea bag was followed by the first round tea bag in 1989 and the 'no drip, no mess'drawstring bag in 1997. Tetley now contributes around two-thirds of the total turnover of Tata Tea.[citation needed]
From 2005, Tata Tea began a restructuring exercise to divest direct ownership of plantations in India, a process facilitated by subsidised loans from the World Bank'sInternational Finance Corporation.[9]
In 2006, Tata Tea acquiredEight O'Clock Coffee, a U.S.-based coffee producer from Gryphon Investors for $220m;[10] before being sold to Gryphon, the Eight O'Clock Coffee brand was originally owned byThe Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company from its beginnings in 1859 to 2003.[citation needed]
The internationaltrade unionIUF criticized the company in 2009 for not allowing statutorymaternity leave to pregnanttea pluckers, and forlocking out 1,000 workers on the Nowera Nuddy Tea Estate inWest Bengal for so long that the local government began distributing food coupons for emergency rations to workers and their families.[11] In May 2010, a crop sprayer died of suspected poisoning on a Tata estate inAssam, leading to protests at which two more workers were shot dead by riot police.[12]
On 30 January 2012, Tata Consumer Products Limited andStarbucks announced the creation of a 50:50 joint venture calledTata Starbucks Limited, which will own and operate Starbucks outlets branded asStarbucks Coffee "A Tata Alliance" in India. The stores started operating in 2012, launching initially inDelhi andMumbai.[13] The coffee shops source coffee beans fromTata Coffee, a subsidiary company of Tata Consumer Products Limited.[14][15]
On 15 May 2019,Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL) announced the de-merger of the Consumer Products Business of TCL and into TGBL through a National Company Law Tribunal ("NCLT") approved scheme of arrangement ("Scheme") to become Tata Consumer.[16][17] In the beverages business, Tata Consumer brands include Tata Tea, Tetley,[18] Vitax, Eight O’Clock Coffee, Himalayan Natural Mineral Water, Grand Coffee andJoekels.[19] In the food segment, the brands includeTata Salt and Tata Sampann.[20]
Tata Global Beverages Limited (TGBL) and Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL) announced that the Scheme of Arrangement between TGBL and TCL regarding the Consumer Products Business of TCL is now operational, effective from 7 February 2020. Following this, TGBL has been renamed Tata Consumer Products Limited.[21][22] Tata Consumer Products combines the food and beverages brands, which include Tata Salt, Tata Tea, Tata Sampann, Tetley, Soulfull[23] and Himalayan mineral water, under a single umbrella.[24]
Tata Consumer Products acquired complete control of Tata SmartFoodz Limited from Tata Industries Limited for₹395 crore (US$47 million) on 12 November 2021.[25]
On 1 May 2022, Tata Consumer Products announced thatTata Coffee would merge with itself as part of a reorganization plan. The company stated that the merger was expected to be completed in late 2023, with shareholders of Tata Coffee receiving 3 shares in Tata Consumer Products for every 10 shares of Tata Coffee.[26] In July 2022, Tata Consumer Products launched premium honey products and flavoured preserves, under the company's Himalayan brand name.[27] Also in July 2022, the company launchedplant-based meat products under the brand name, Tata Simply Better.[28]
In January 2024, Tata Consumer acquired Capital Foods (owner ofChing's Secret andSmith & Jones brands) for ₹5,100 crore andOrganic India for ₹1,900 crore.[29]
The company was renamed as Tata Global Beverages (now Tata Consumer Products Limited) to include the range of health and nutritional beverages it wants to enter into. Via subsidiary companies, Tata Consumer Products Limited manufactures 7crore kilograms of tea inIndia, controls 54 tea estates, ten tea blending and packaging factories and employs around 59,000 people.[30] The company owns 51 tea estates inIndia andSri Lanka, especially inAssam,West Bengal in eastern India andKerala in the south. The company is the largest manufacturer ofAssam tea andDarjeeling tea and the second-largest manufacturer ofCeylon tea.[citation needed]
Set up in 1964 as ajoint venture withUK based James Finlay and Company to develop value-added tea, Tata Consumer Products Limited has now product and brand presence in 50 countries. It is one of India's firstmultinational companies. The operations of Tata Consumer Products Limited and its subsidiaries focus on branded product offerings in tea, but with a significant presence in plantation activity in India and Sri Lanka.[citation needed]
The consolidated worldwide branded tea business of Tata Consumer Products Limited contributes to around 86% of its consolidated turnover with the remaining 14 per cent coming from bulk tea,coffee and investment income. With an area of approximately 159 square kilometres (61 sq mi) under tea cultivation, Tata Consumer Products Limited produces around 30 million kg ofblack tea annually.[citation needed] Instant tea is used for light density 100% teas, iced tea mixes and in the preparation of ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages.[citation needed]
Tata Consumer Products Limited owns five brands in India: Tata Tea, Tetley,Kannan Devan, Chakra Gold, and Gemini. The company has a 100% export-oriented unit (KOSHER and HACCP certified) manufacturinginstant tea inMunnar,Kerala, which is the largest such facility outside the United States. Tata Consumer Products Limited has subsidiaries inAustralia,Great Britain,The United States of America,Czechia andIndia.[citation needed]
Tata Global Beverages worked withJanaagraha on avoter registration drive, with the campaign name "Jaago Re!" ("Wake Up!"). Following this, the company moved the campaign on to opposingcorruption. The Jaago Re! website encourages discussion on this and other social issues.[31]
Tata Global Beverages awarded the Tata Global Beverages Re-imagination Scholarships on 17 March 2013 to eight students from the 'Urban Scholars' program atBrunel University in London. The participating students were required to write an essay based on the following topic "A hot cup of tea on a cold morning, sharing a joke over a cup of coffee, a sip of cool water after a long trek. Beverages are part of our everyday life and yet they also sprinkle some magic on it—moments of reflection, sharing, inspiration and laughter...moments that take us away from the ordinary. What do you think makes a magical beverage moment?"[32]
In January 2014, Tata Consumer Products Limited and International Finance Corporation (IFC) which is part ofWorld Bank were criticized for poor working conditions, low wages, and gross human rights violations in a report released by Human Rights Institute at Columbia Law School. The report alleges Amalgamated Plantations Private Limited (APPL) which is partly owned by Tata Tea and IFC is in violation of many of the provisions of the Indian Plantation Labor Act (PLA) on its tea plantations in Assam and West Bengal.[33][34]
In March 2014 a documentary on The Guardian news website claims that Tata Global Beverages is underpaying the minimum Indian wage at an Assam tea plantation that Tata co-owns with Tetley and other major tea producers.[35]
In October 2015, a movement of 6,000 female labourers calling themselves "Pempilai Orumai", or women's unity laid siege to the Munnar tea estates, one of Kerala's most popular tourist destinations and owned subsidiaries of Tata Tea's plantation in Kerala. Trade and tourism were brought to a near standstill but, after nine days of protest and marathon negotiations overseen by the chief minister of the state, it gave in.[citation needed]
The spark that ignited the protest was a decision to cut the 20% bonus paid to tea pickers, but its roots go much deeper than that. "Part of the women's complaint is that they live in one-bed huts without toilets and other basic amenities and, while they earn significantly more than the tea workers in Assam, they say the₹230 (US$2.70) (£2.30) they are paid for a day's work is half what a daily wage labourer in Kerala would get."[36]
The maximum stake is being held with Indian promoters of the business i.e., TATA Group with a percentage share of 33.55%. Mutual funds hold a 14.86% share and FPIs hold a 17.05% stake in the company. Non-institutional individuals hold a 20.38% share in the company.[37]
| Shareholders (as on 31 March 2024) | Shareholding[38] |
|---|---|
| Promoter | 33.55% |
| FIIs | 25.46% |
| DIIs | 17.39% |
| Government | 0.01% |
| Public | 23.59% |
| Total | 100.0% |
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