Assam Bill Would Let Estates Lease 5% of Garden Land

Assam has introduced a bill allowing tea estates to lease up to 5 percent of their land to third parties for state-approved commercial ventures.

Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Keshab Mahanta introduced the Assam Fixation of Ceiling on Land Holdings (Amendment) Bill, 2026, in the State Assembly on July 27, India Today NE reported.

The 5 percent allowance is not itself new. A 2022 law already permitted gardens to put that share of their holding to non-core commercial use, but only where the owner ran the venture directly, according to Sentinel Assam.

The amendment adds the lease. An estate may now hand that portion to an outside individual or entity for a period the state government determines, rather than financing and operating a diversification venture itself.

The area involved is small. The change in who can supply the capital is not, because an owner short of cash can now let someone else build on the land and still take revenue from it.

Permitted uses under the amendment are eco-friendly tea tourism, cultivation of food and cash crops, animal husbandry, green energy projects, social infrastructure, and food processing units.

The bill's Statement of Objects and Reasons says the aim is to "improve land utilisation, attract institutional investment, and enable specialised ventures while providing tea estates with additional avenues for revenue generation."

One channel gives a sense of what such diversification has been worth so far. Around 100 tea garden owners have already received sanction letters under the state's Tea Tourism Development Scheme, which carries grants of up to Rs 2 crore (about $240,000), Sentinel Assam reported.

A garden-industry stakeholder told the paper the state should issue a standard operating procedure for the leasing arrangement to prevent disputes at the district level.

The tenure of any lease rests with the state government, and the amendment does not fix it.

Sources: Sentinel Assam, India Today NE