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. AL RM Nagappan/ Mr. Prashant Bhansali/ Mr. C. Shreedharan | United Planters’ Association of Southern India (UPASI) | Tea Producers and Manufacturers |
| Ms. Anju Pandey | UN Women | Not for profit Organization/ Civil Society |
| Mr. Arijit Raha | Indian Tea Association (ITA) | Producers |
| Mr. Ashish Gupta | Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) | Tea Packers & Buyers |
| Mr. Bijoy Gopal Chakraborty | Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers’ Associations (CISTA) | Producers |
| Mr. Gautam Beria | Assam Bought Leaf Tea Manufacturers’ Association (ABLTMA) | Bought Leaf Factory |
| Mr. Jagjeet Kandal | Tata Consumer Products Limited (TCPL) | Tea Packers & Buyers |
| Mr. Joydeep Phukan | Tea Research Association (TRA) | Research/ Academia |
| Mr. Pramit Chanda | IDH – the Sustainable Trade Initiative | Not for profit Organization/ Civil Society |
| Mr. Prashant Bhansali | United Planters’ Association of Southern India (UPASI) | Producers |
| Mr. Rahul Devi | Gujarat Tea Processors and Packers Limited (GTTP) | Tea Packers & Buyers |
| Mr. Rajesh Bhuyan | trustea Sustainable Tea Foundation | Ex-officio member |
| Mr. Vikram Singh | Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) | Not for profit Organization/ Civil Society |
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.