The Hindu : Business : Process set in motion for launching e-auction in tea

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Process set in motion for launching e-auction in tea

Special Correspondent

— PHOTO: PTI

ONLINE AUCTION: NSE.IT Executive Vice-President C. Kajwadkar (right) and Deputy Chairman of the Tea Board Roshni Sen (left) exchange files after signing an MoU in Kolkata on Thursday. Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh (centre) and Tea board Chairman Basudeb Banerjee (second from left) look on.

KOLKATA: With the conclusion of the signing ceremony between NSE.IT and the Tea Board, which finalised the ‘business requirement specfications’, the process of launching the world’s first e-auction for tea was rolled out on Thursday.

Union Minister of State for Commerce, Jairam Ramesh, who was here on the occasion, said that while there was some apprehension on this amid buyers, brokers and the industry, the government would not bow to any pressure to abort this move. The Minister said that no regulatory measures would be initiated to make e-auction mandatory and the system should, on its own, be able to attract customers. He allayed fears that it would lead to job loss saying that it would change the nature of jobs but would not throw people out of employment. Sri Lanka and Kenya, which sell large volumes through auction, have expressed interest in collaborating with India on this, he said.

“Experimental testing would be done between August and October in six auction centres in India and the success of the new system would be gauged in October 2009 if it was found that improvements have been recorded on the three parameters,” he said.

The system would be tried out at Conoor, Coimbatore, Kochi, Guwahati, Kolkata and Siliguri auction centres.

ITA Chairman, Aditya Khaitan, said while this was a step in the right direction, brokers would have to really come out and give inputs to develop the system.

D. P. Maheshwari, President, United Planters’ Association of Southern India (UPASI) President, said it was necessary to expand the base of buyers.

The Tea Board Chairman, Basudeb Banerjee, said the apprehension was basically about the changed systems which would be put in place.

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