Tea lovers in India are declining. Stiff competition from other beverages has pushed down the domestic consumption of tea in the country, according to the government data.

But the government has no plans to declare tea as national beverage even though tea registered a marginal decline in domestic consumption, Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh told the Parliament on Tuesday.

"Tea has a very high degree of penetration particularly among the rural consumers," he said.

The growth rate of tea during the last three year 2004-06 has registered a marginal decline in terms of domestic consumption and per capita consumption when compared to the period 2001-03.

However, the domestic per capita consumption of tea has been increasing in absolute terms.

The rate of growth of tea has declined from 3.05 percent (2001-03) to 2.45 percent (2004-06). The per capita consumption has also declined from 1.38 percent (2001-03) to 0.88 percent (2004-06).

The minister said the government has no proposal to devise a new strategy for promotion of tea as national beverage and boost its domestic consumption.

Meanwhile, Ramesh agreed that tea has been facing some competition from other beverages.

But he said to combat this competition and also to boost domestic consumption of tea, the Tea Board has been undertaking a number of promotional activities in the country.

They included propagating the health benefits of tea and participating in a number of domestic fairs and exhibitions besides using both print and electronic media highlighting tea as a health and lifestyle beverage.