Shillong: Tea Board India hosted a seminar on October 5 at Nilhat House, Kolkata. The event took place at the CTTA Auction Hall under the federal Reform Utsav initiative. Officials gathered to push for transparency, better price discovery, and a sharper competitive edge in the domestic tea trade. Deputy Chairman C. Murugan and IIM Bangalore professor Sreelata Jonnalagedda spoke to the industry crowd.
The agency started the Pan-India e-Auction system in 2016. It opened the digital doors for buyers to bid across different centers using one platform. A post-auction payment system followed in 2018 to cut down on manual work and speed up settlements. These moves show a shift toward a more integrated, uniform and technology-driven auction mechanism that could facilitate wider participation, greater transparency, faster settlement and improved efficiency.
The results speak for themselves. Participation climbed from 1,702 buyers in 2015-16 to 2,417 by 2025-26. Sales volume also saw a significant bump. It moved from 518.08 million kilograms to 643.89 million kilograms over the same window. This system now acts as a primary price benchmark for small growers.
Developers are currently rolling out a web-based platform to simplify user access and drop costs. The board wants to slash user charges from 12 paise per kilogram to 7.5 paise. It is already live in Kolkata, Coonoor, and Dibrugarh. Future plans include warehouse overhauls, better sampling norms, and grade standardization. Industry leaders continue to refine the process through the Auction Reforms Committee to keep the trade moving.
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