Need to further tweak tea e-auction mechanism: J Thomas & Company

The electronic auction system for tea that was introduced almost two years ago is in need of further tweaking to make it perfect, the country's oldest auctioneer, J Thomas & Company, said today.

"Electronic auction of tea had resulted in better price discovery. But it needs further improvement for auctioning of orthodox tea," J Thomas Chairman and Managing Director Ashok Batra said.

Speaking to reporters on the occasion of the 150-year celebrations of J Thomas, Batra said while the e-auction mechanism for CTC tea was perfect, it needed to be improved for the orthodox variety.

He said that while CTC tea was almost entirely for domestic consumption, with a broad buyer-base, orthodox tea was mainly exported, with buyers mostly overseas and volumes very small.

Batra said India was the first country in the world to introduce e-auctions of tea, but overseas buyers were not familiar with this system.

"They are used to participating in an outcry system of auctioning, which is taking place in Sri Lanka and Kenya," he said.

There was also a need for integration of front-office and back-office operations, he said.

The electronic auction platform was developed by NSE.IT, the information technology arm of the National Stock Exchange.

J Thomas handles 200 million kilograms of tea annually.