Online Platform Launches to Speed Assam Tea Auctions
Assam Chai Bazaar, a new Tea Board-licensed online platform, launched in Dibrugarh on Aug. 14 with a stated goal of completing a tea sale and payment cycle within 25 days across a belt covering 55% of Assam's tea production.
An online platform licensed by the Tea Board of India to run public tea auctions launched in Dibrugarh on Aug. 14, with a stated transaction cycle of 25 days.
The platform, Assam Chai Bazaar, is operated by Assam Chai Bazaar LLP and went live with its website, www.assamchaibazaar.com, at a function at the Gymkhana Club in Dibrugarh, Assam. Prashanta Borah, Factory Advisory Officer at the Tea Board of India, the industry regulator, attended the launch.
Under the stated cycle, tea is to be sold within 12 days of listing, with payment to sellers completed within the following 13 days.
Sumit Agarwalla, one of the platform's promoters, said the idea behind Assam Chai Bazaar is that a sale should take less time, because time is of the essence in any business transaction. "If someone buys tea and gets it after a month, it does not serve the purpose," he said.
The other promoters are Chand Kumar Gohain, president of the Assam Bought Leaf Tea Manufacturers' Association; Deven Singh; Gautam Beria; and Chandrajit Baruah.
The operation runs two warehouses in Dibrugarh totaling about 40,000 square feet and one warehouse in Guwahati of about 5,000 square feet.
Its service area covers tea-producing areas within 120 kilometers of Dibrugarh, including adjoining districts and parts of Arunachal Pradesh, which together account for roughly 55% of Assam's tea production. Industry figures show Assam produces roughly 65% of India's total output.
Assam's trade has long depended on established auction centers, Guwahati chief among them, for price discovery, and separately on private and bought-leaf sales. A fixed sale-and-payment window addresses one of the trade's chronic frictions, the lag between a tea being sold and a grower or factory being paid.
Sources: The Assam Tribune, New tea auction platform launched in Dibrugarh to cut delays, costs; The Sentinel, Assam Chai Bazaar launches Dibrugarh-based online platform to streamline public tea auctions.