The special Indian tea promotion in London, coinciding with the Olympics, started with a flourish on 1st August, 2012, at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London. A delegation of major producers and exporters, led by the Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Shri Madhusudan Prasad, is in London for the special promotional event. His Excellency, Dr J. Bhagwati, the High Commissioner of India in the UK, inaugurated the show with the cutting of the ribbon and there was a symbolic pouring of the tea from a huge teapot into a cup by the Additional Secretary, Shri Madhusudan Prasad, and the Chairman, Tea Board of India, Shri MGVK Bhanu. A mini tea garden was created inside the Royal Festival Hall, narrating the story of tea production, from the leaf to the cup. The entire hall came alive with the drumbeats, along with the Bhangra performance and other Indian dance performances, which were a major attraction of the day's event. The crowd loved the Indian flavour in its various manifestations -- Indian tea, dances, music, food stalls, coffee, spices etc.

Prominent Indian tea producers and exporters, including M/s McLeod Russell, M/s Goodricke, M/s Ambootia, M/s Rossell Tea, M/s Typhoo Tea, as well as Indian Tea Association (ITA) and Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA) were present in full strength and displayed some of the best teas in the exhibition stall outside the Royal Festival Hall.