{
  "id": 13760710,
  "title": "Tea Board pushes for more transparent, efficient tea auctions",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/11/tea-board-pushes-for-more-transparent-efficient-tea-auctions",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-11T16:42:41.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Economic Times - Economy",
    "slug": "the-economic-times-economy",
    "url": "https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/tea-board-pushes-for-more-transparent-efficient-tea-auctions/articleshow/134873741.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Guwahati: The Tea Board India convened a seminar on \"Reforms in the Implementation of Pan-India e-Auction\" as part of the Government of India's Reform Utsav. The seminar centered on bolstering transparency, enhancing price discovery, and improving efficiency of India's tea auction system. Notable speakers from the tea industry, including C. Murugan, Deputy Chairman of the Tea Board India, and Prof. Sreelata Jonnalagedda from IIM Bangalore, participated in the event.\n\nThe Pan-India e-Auction system, launched in 2016, allowed buyers from one auction center to join auctions at other centers via a unified electronic platform. The objective was to consolidate auction centers nationwide, standardize procedures, and establish a uniform, transparent, and efficient auction process across all locations. In 2018, an integrated online post-auction settlement mechanism was introduced, further enhancing financial transparency, enabling prompt payment settlements, and minimizing manual intervention.\n\nThe reforms have led to increased buyer participation and consistent auction activity. The number of buyers involved across auction centers grew from 1,702 in 2015-16 to 2,417 in 2025-26, while the volume of tea sold through auctions expanded from 518.08 million kilograms to 643.89 million kilograms over the same period. The auction system also serves as a crucial price benchmark for determining payments to small tea growers.\n\nThe seminar focused on the upcoming web-based tea auction platform designed to improve accessibility, offer an intuitive interface, and lower operating expenses. The platform charges a user fee of 7.5 paise per kilogram of tea sold, down from the current 12 paise rate, aiming to alleviate the financial burden on stakeholders. The platform has already been implemented in Kolkata, Coonoor, and Dibrugarh, with plans to extend its use to other auction centers in the future.\n\nAdditionally, the Auction Reforms Committee, comprising representatives from key tea industry associations, outlined a phased approach to further enhance the auction system. This includes refining sampling standards, standardizing lot sizes, implementing ex-estate sales, reducing auction lead times, advancing warehousing reforms, standardizing tea grades, and creating an integrated transaction platform. The seminar emphasized the significance of ongoing collaboration between Tea Board India and industry stakeholders to foster a more transparent, efficient, and competitive tea auction ecosystem and support the long-term growth of the Indian tea industry.",
  "summary": "Tea Board India held a seminar to discuss reforms for improving the Pan-India e-Auction system. It focused on enhancing transparency and efficiency in India’s tea auction process. The reforms have led to increased buyer participation and higher tea auction volumes over recent years. A new web-based tea auction platform is being introduced to further streamline operations and reduce costs.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}