Upcountry and other domestic buyers as also exporters besides the producers who operate through the auctions of the Coonoor Tea Trade Association (CTTA) are worried that the frequent and long hours of disruption in the e-auction is hitting the smooth conduct of the trade.

“Ever since the Tea Board migrated to cloud server almost a year ago, we have been facing disruption in the e-auction. On many days, the disruption was for short period like 10 minutes but there were complaints from buyers that some of their bids were not getting duly registered thereby defeating the inherent significance of the e-auction,” CTTA Chairman L Vairavan told BusinessLine .

“At the last auciton, the problem was acute as there was stoppage for over two hours. This dampened the spirit of the buyers some of whom left the auction unable to sit and wait for long. We had to reschedule the auction process but the prices dipped in the absence of competitive bids and despite that, huge volumes remained unsold,” he said.

“Besides, there was connectivity outage for about five hours on Saturday which affected our post-auction operations like presenting the Delivery Order and making payment,” he pointed out.

“Buyers are complaining that they have not got payment for the teas already transported and hence are unable to invest more,” he noted. “The cloud server disruption is adding to the problem of lockdown and the concomitant transportation of teas to various destinations and port heads,” he said.

“So, we have represented to the Tea Board to come out with a permanent solution immediately to help the conduct of the smooth trade,” Vairavan said.

Upcountry and other domestic buyers as also exporters are buying teas worth over ₹20 crore every week at CTTA auctions.

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