Tea Board Chairman Basudeb Banerjee told PTI that as decided in a meeting held with Minister of state for Commerce Jairam Ramesh recently, the regulations would be ready within three months.

Asked what would happen in the case the government lost the trust vote on July 22, Mr Banerjee said it was of no consequence since the matter would be dealt with at the bureaucratic level. The Commerce Ministry had taken strong exception against some tea exporters, both private and public, as there were complaints alleging that Indian firms were exporting lesser quantity and inferior quality of tea than contracted.

When contacted, a highly placed official of a public sector firm Balmer Lawrie said the Commerce ministry had asked for some clarifications from the company on issues raised by the Iraqi government. He said initially, the consignment was rejected, but later it was re-tested and then accepted. He said although the consignment was exported almost two years ago, the company was yet to get the money from the Iraqi importers. The consignment was valued at Rs 4.5 crore.

Mr Banerjee said regulations had become imperative since the country was looking for key markets like Iraq.