The branded tea segment is one of the highly penetrated products in India. The branded or the packaged tea market in India is estimated around 9500 crores growing at a CAGR of 5 percent. The branded tea can be classified into the packed, tea bag, and flavored tea segments and the unbranded segment includes the loose tea in unpacked or tea bag form. According to industry estimates, unpackaged tea accounts for more than 45% of value sales of total tea sold in India and which has got strong presence in the rural market. The rural market is gradually opening its doors to branded or packaged tea brands along with the aggressive promotional strategies with extensive distribution network.
Packaged tea market is extremely penetrated with multiple brands with around 300 brands, dominated by HUL and Tata tea with strong presence in rural and urban market, which together account for 30-40 percent of the total market. Undoubtedly, Unilever is major player and market leader in the Indian tea (packaged) product category. Other brands in the packaged tea segment includes Waghbakri, Duncan's, Eveready, Goodricke, GPI, Girnar,Sapat, Dhunseri, Mohini, Society, Marvel etc. Morever, new product launches are witnessing from the existing players with different flavors and variants. Recently, green tea consumption is increasing its prominence due to health conscious among customers. In near-term, green tea is going to capture its chunk in its total market share.