Tea Board to launch e-auction system

PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
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Tea Board to launch e-auction system
Kolkata: March 20, 2008.

Tea Board signed an agreement with NSE-IT, an IT subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange, here today to launch electronic (online) system of tea auction in the country. The Minister of State for Commerce, Shri Jairam Ramesh attended the signing ceremony to announce that the fresh launch of e-auction will be operational latest by November 2008.
The new system, to be developed and launched by NSE-IT, would be more transparent. It would ensure reduced payment period and better-price-discovery mechanism for the nation's tea industry, Shri Ramesh said. The 95 per cent of the tea produced in Sri Lanka and Kenya came through the auction route compared to India's 45 per cent only. E-auction would surely increase this volume, he added.
The Government was not mooting any law for making e-auction mandatory in tea industry. The emphasis, the Minister clarified, would be on making the new system more viable and attractive for the buying and selling parties bringing about bulk of the nation's tea produce to the e-auction route. The renewed launch of e-auction was indeed in for a long haul, unlike a similar exercise three years back that failed to take off, Shri Ramesh said. He appealed all the stakeholders to make the new e-auction drive a success as it was aimed to benefit every section of the industry. Shri Ramesh sited a similar system introduced for cardamom and soon to be launched e-auction of tobacco in the country to say that this was proving mutually benefiting for the respective trade and industry as well as for promotion of the information technology.
Shri Basudev Banerjee, Chairman, Tea Board, on this occasion, said, the Board, having learnt lessons from the past exercise would test and monitor the newly developed e-auction system during August-October this year and needs and concerns of all the involved parties would be addressed adequately by it in association with NSE-IT. Smt. Roshni Sen, Deputy Chairperson of the Tea Board and NSE Vice president signed the agreement papers in the presence of the Union Minister and the Board Chairman.
With regard to the ongoing reopening efforts of the 14 closed tea gardens in West Bengal, Shri Ramesh informed the media persons that one was already open while buyers for Kanthalguri, Ramjhora and Samsing had been identified. The owners of at least five other gardens had moved Courts where the hearings were in different stages, he said.
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am/dk/kol/17:25 hrs.