Tata Tea, however, denies paying protection money, even after a senior employee was kidnapped in 1993.

ECONOMIST: Tea without sympathy

INDIA's two biggest tea companies, Tata Tea and Williamson Magor, have been accused of aiding insurgents in the north-eastern state of Assam.

ECONOMIST: Tea without sympathy

Tata Tea (now Tata Global Beverages) has sold its vast plantation in the Western Ghat mountains where it was the biggest employer for more than a century.

ECONOMIST: The Tata group