India on Friday said it was exploring the possibility of exporting tea to Pakistan through the border route.

Announcing this in Rajya Sabha, Commerce and Industry Minister Arun Jaitley said, "The Indian tea companies and Pakistani tea traders have been discussing and exploring the possibility of opening tea trade through the border route."

"Our industry has been quite active as far as Pakistan is concerned," Jaitley said, adding the per capita consumption of tea in Pakistan was one of the highest.

He was responding to a query from Congress member Santosh Bagrodia who wondered why India was not trying to tap the 140 million kg tea market in the neighbouring country to deal with excess production in India.

Pakistan imports tea mainly from Kenya and to some extent from Sri Lanka. But Indian tea is very popular in that country and some quantity do enter through Dubai and informal trade.

Jaitley said a Pakistan tea delegation had recently attended a conference in Coonoor in India. During that conference, he said, he had an opportunity to exchange views on this issue.