Tea too less for auction to go online at Jalpaiguri

Siliguri, Dec. 12: Members of the North Bengal Tea Auction Centre (NBTAC) in Jalpaiguri have to be satisfied with only a demonstration of electronic auction system thanks to the pathetic inflow of the brew.

The experts from NSE.IT, the information technology wing of National Stock Exchange that has designed the software, will only make a presentation of the system at a programme in Jalpaiguri on December 14. The e-auction systems are being launched at six other auction centres in the country this month. While the system is already in place in Calcutta and Guwahati, it will be introduced in Siliguri tomorrow,

“The tea board has decided to introduce e-auction at all six auction centres save Jalpaiguri where the brew is hardly sold nowadays,” G.Boriah, the director (tea development), told The Telegraph over the phone from Calcutta. “A presentation will be held along with formal release of the Dooars-Terai tea logo at the centre.”

The centre, which became operational in February 2005, has been facing a crunch in the flow of the brew for quite a few months. Although it had recorded the sale of lakhs of kg in the first three years, only 6,000-odd kg of tea were auctioned in the current financial year, prompting the authorities to cancel the sales dates.

“We are aware that the e-auction will not be introduced in Jalpaiguri and it will be the only centre where the system would not be available,” said N.K. Basu, the secretary of the NBTAC.

“Given the present condition of the auction centre and its discouraging sales figures, we are keeping our fingers crossed and are not very sure of the centre’s future,” he added.

Stakeholders of the industry feel that the centre is at a difficult juncture now.

“Low inflow is leading to low sales and that is why the tea board cannot finalise the launch of e-auction here,” a member of the NBTAC said. “We fear that the situation will become worse and sales might further drop if e-auction is not put in place. It is already behind other centres in terms of sales.”

Following the pathetic state of the centre, the residents have formed the Save Jalpaiguri Tea Auction Centre Committee to mount pressure on the government to bring it on a par with the Siliguri centre. Although Jalpaiguri district has the highest number of tea estates in north Bengal, the centre is suffering because of poor inflow of the commodity.

Central sales taxed waiver at Jalpaiguri tea auction

The North Bengal Tea Auction Centre in Jalpaiguri is set to enjoy a waiver on central sales tax.

This means buyers at this auction centre will get a three per cent waiver for the next two years. The waiver, which has come into effect from April 1, is likely to give Jalpaiguri an edge over Siliguri and Calcutta.

During his visit to Jalpaiguri on April 3, Bengal finance minister Asim Dasgupta announced the waiver. “I have already signed the necessary papers, and it should be effective very soon,” he had then said.

Kamal Bhattacharjee, the executive officer of the Jalpaiguri centre, today said they had been banking on the minister’s assurance. “Finally on May 15, the state government declared through a gazette notification that buyers purchasing tea through this centre would get the benefit of a three per cent central sale tax waiver which will continue till March 31, 2009.”

The benefit, he claimed, has already started drawing buyers to this centre set up in February 2005 amid much scepticism that it would not be able to survive competition from the 30-year-old Siliguri centre.

“The Jalpaiguri centre was reeling from a crisis resulting from an abysmally low inflow of tea. However, with the notification coming into force, we have recorded 100 per cent sale of tea put on auction in the past two sessions,” said Bhattacharjee.

N.K. Basu, the secretary of the auction committee in Jalpaiguri, admitted that the waiver has come as a major boost. “We are optimistic that more tea producers will decide to sell their brew through our centre. Earlier sellers refused to use our centres because there were no buyers,” he said.

However, the members of the Siliguri tea auction committee are not happy. “We will take up the issue with the finance minister. We are being deprived,” one of them said. Siliguri is considered an “adult” centre, which had had its share of waiver when it was set up in 1975.

Currently, 150 sellers, 58 buyers and eight brokers are registered in Jalpaiguri. This is much lower than the Siliguri centre, which has 327 sellers, 425 buyers and 10 brokers.

Source: The Telegraph