The Terai Indian Planters Association (TIPA) has appealed to the Tea Board of India to implement rigorous quality checks and trade safeguards to protect West Bengal’s indigenous tea industry, particularly Darjeeling tea, from low-quality imports. TIPA highlighted that approximately 16 million kg of tea enters India annually from Nepal, frequently being repackaged and marketed fraudulently as premium Darjeeling tea, severely undermining its global brand equity. Pointing to the 198th report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce, planters criticized the existing Indo-Nepal Trade Treaty framework, which allows Nepalese tea duty-free access while imposing a 40 percent tariff on Indian tea exports to Nepal. Furthermore, the association drew attention to acute financial distress across 449 organised tea gardens in Darjeeling, Terai, and Dooars, where subsidy disbursements have stalled due to fund shortages. Industry leaders warned that unmonitored cross-border trade flows and rejected financial claims risk accelerating garden closures and displacing thousands of workers.