The Tea Board of India discontinued the Jorhat Tea Auction Centre from April 1, 2026, leaving Assam, which grows more than half of India's tea, with a single auction centre for the whole state.

South India runs three auction centres and West Bengal runs three, according to industry accounts reported by EastMojo and Sentinel Assam. The closure sharpens a standing asymmetry in the country's price discovery: the region that produces more than 50% of national output now offers its crop through one marketplace, while regions producing smaller shares each keep three.

The Jorhat centre opened in 2020 as India's first web-based tea auction platform, operated by Mjunction Services Ltd, and handled roughly four million kilograms of tea a year, according to Sentinel Assam. A circular signed March 26 by the Tea Board's Controller of Licensing said continuing a separate auction model at Jorhat was no longer considered feasible with a unified national digital platform in development, EastMojo reported.

The board cited the planned pan-India platform as the reason for the closure. Industry representatives objected. "After repeated requests and demands to the Tea Board of India, the Jorhat Tea Auction Centre was launched, but now it has been shut down," one industry representative said, according to EastMojo.

Upper Assam's six tea districts, which together produce around 450 million kilograms a year, are now routed through the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre alone for auction access. For growers in the upper districts, the change adds distance between leaf and buyer at the point where the price is set. An auction centre concentrates buyers and standardises the sale; the state that supplies the largest single share of India's tea now clears it through one.

Sources: EastMojo, Tea Board shuts Jorhat Tea Auction Centre; industry raises alarm (29 April 2026); Sentinel Assam, Tea Board Shuts Jorhat Auction Centre, Leaving Assam With Just One (22 April 2026).