The company also expects tea prices to go up following the poor monsoon. 'In the current year, there will be rise in commodity prices due to poor monsoon. Tea prices will go up. There will be bad crop due to shortage of rainfall,' Tata Tea chairman Ratan N. Tata told shareholders.

'So we are looking at expanding operations and adding value for customers.'

Emphasising that Tata Tea was no longer a tea company, he added: 'It is a beverage company. We are now into branded products like coffee, water and ready-to-drinks.'

Tata Tea's total last fiscal stood at Rs.4,907 crore, while net profit was Rs.701 crore.