The Tea Board has, in-principle, accepted the recommendations submitted by a team of IIM Bangalore professors to recast the present pan India e-auction system.
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“We will implement this in a phased manner with an eye on improving the ease of business,” Tea Board Deputy Chairman Arun Kumar Roy said.
The new system aims at improving price discovery, simplifying the process elevating industry standards, and enhancing the quality of tea on offer at the auctions.
“Tea prices have remained flat at around ₹140 per kg for nearly four years since 2014,” Professor B. Mahadevan of IIM Bangalore said at a stakeholders’ meet here on Wednesday.
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Mr. Roy said that nearly 75% of these recommendations had already made their way into the alternative auction platform to be rolled out by mjunction. The SAIL-Tata Steel joint venture has won a tender for putting up an innovative platform based at Assam’s Jorhat, where many of these features had been incorporated. “These include designing a comprehensive e-catalogue, fixed reserve price and logistic support for buyers,” a press note from the Tea Board said.
The deficiencies of the present pan Indian e-auction system rolled out in 2016 were many. The system had neither improved price discovery nor boosted volumes. The modified system aims at addressing these issues while creating equal opportunities for all.
Among the stakeholders present at the meeting, producer associations such as the Tea Association of India welcomed the initiative.