Governance

The trustea program is governed by multi-stakeholder trustea Sustainable Tea Council representing the tea industry in India. The Council acts as the representative organ for leading the multi stakeholder program to improve the Sustainability of the Indian tea industry through the voluntary adoption of the trustea code. Currently the Council has the following representation:

Name  Organisation  Category 
Mr. Abhishek Kapoor Gujarat Tea Processors and Packers Limited (GTTP) Tea Buyers and Packers
Mr. R. Sanjith United Planters’ Association of Southern India (UPASI) Tea Producers and Manufacturers
Ms.Poulomi Pal (advisory role) UN Women (Civil Society/ Non-Governmental) Multilateral organization
Mr. Arijit Raha Indian Tea Association (ITA) Tea Producers and Manufacturers
Mr. Mandeep Singh Tuli Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) Tea Buyers and Packers
Mr. Bijoy Gopal Chakraborty Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers’ Associations (CISTA) Small Tea Growers’ Representative
Mr. Gautam Beria Assam Bought Leaf Tea Manufacturers’ Association (ABLTMA) Tea Producers and Manufacturers
Mr. Joydeep Phukan Tea Research Association (TRA) Research and Academia
Mr. Jagjeet Singh Kandal IDH – the Sustainable Trade Initiative Civil Society ( Non-Governmental/ Multilateral organization)
Mr. Puneet Das Tata Consumer Products Limited (TCPL) Tea Buyers and Packers
Ms. Ranjana Das Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) Civil Society ( Non-Governmental/ Multilateral organization)
Mr. Rajesh Bhuyan Trustea Sustainable Tea Foundation Ex-officio member

To access the ‘trustea Council Charter’, please click on Download

Program Funding 

Trustea programme was launched in July 2013 – concurrent to the launch, trustea Secretariat was established. The first producer was verified in November 2013 as a pilot project. The programme started operating with Grants from the main stakeholders that were IDH, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) and Tata Consumer Products Limited (TCPL),which was later strengthened by the joining of WaghBakri Group (GTPPL)in the year 2017.

As a part of the long-term strategy, a new ‘Section 8’ entity called trustea Sustainable Tea Foundation was incorporated in May 2019. Subsequently, a multi-stakeholder council called the trustea Sustainable Tea Council was formed in September 2019, in line with the company’s Articles of Association.

Currently, the programme is in a transition phase towards adopting a new business model, under which it will operate through funds realized from the trustea “seal on pack” and certification processes. Through this transition period, the company will continue to operate on a grant-based model.