The Hindu Business Line : Tea Board signs pact with NSE arm for e-auction

E-initiative
Tea Board will spend Rs 9.5 crore on the initiative and install 600 computers in six auction centres.
The Union Government will not pass any regulation to make it the e-auction system mandatory.

Our Bureau

Kolkata, March 20

The e-auction process for tea was rolled out here on Thursday with the signing of the final business requirement specification document between the Tea Board and NSE.IT, a 100 per cent subsidiary of NSE.

Price discovery

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of State for Commerce, said India would be the first country in the world to have such a system. The idea behind the initiative was to standardise processes across auction centres, ensure transparency, establish a more robust price discovery mechanism and discontinue certain practices that have evolved over the years, which were against basic auction principles.

The Tea Board will spend Rs 9.5 crore on the initiative and install 600 computers in six auction centres in the country. Experimental testing of the system will be held during August-October this year.

To be voluntary

Mr Ramesh said though there were some apprehensions about the system among buyers, brokers and industry, the Tea Board would not bow to pressure from any quarter in this regard. “We will not pass any regulation to make it mandatory. People will come voluntarily,” Mr Ramesh said, and added that the e-auction system would not render people jobless but would change the nature of their jobs.

According to him, the 11th Plan allocation for tea has been hiked to Rs 800 crore from Rs 350 crore in the 10th Plan.

The Union Cabinet recently accorded its approval for a Rs 230-crore quality upgradation and product diversification scheme for the tea sector.

Modernisation subsidy

Under the scheme, a subsidy of Rs 100 crore would be provided for orthodox tea and Rs 80 crore would be provided for modernising existing processing facilities.

He further said orthodox tea accounted for 8 per cent of the total tea produced and 32 per cent of tea exports. Orthodox tea production was targeted to go up from the current 80 million kgs per annum to 130 million kgs within the next five years, he said.

More Stories on : Tea | E-Commerce & E-Business

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Orphans of the motherland?

Review Tata, Virgin deal, GSM players urge DoT

Hyderabad airport will open on March 23; ground handling rates cut

Irish co CRH picks 50% in AP cement firm for $456 m

Inflation spurts to 10-month high on rising food costs

L&T to start work on its integrated shipyard soon

Tea Board signs pact with NSE arm for e-auction

Motorola to foray into set-top box market

US bars multiple H-1B filings for same worker

‘Centre planning IT investment regions’

Customs duty on cooking oils slashed

PSBs keen to increase auto loan portfolio

Retailers ride high on easy EMIs