The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word ASSAM
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
A
S
S
A
M
More clues leading to the result ASSAM
- Tea from northbound service area
- Tea service, third of plates going west
- Tea in tsarina’s samovar
- Idiot in the morning in Indian location
- Starts off at seven in the morning, after small tea
- Top-grade schools vacated before noon in this region
- Mug with morning tea
- Indian state: state China finally backed
- Tea in a state, knocked over
- Some tea’s sampled? Here’s region producing it
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "here in north-east India" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case here in north-east india = assam.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.