The Hindu : Electronic tea auction system ready for launch

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 14, 2003

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National

Electronic tea auction system ready for launch

By D. Radhakrishnan

Udhagamandalam Aug.13. Come September, the first Electronic Tea Auction System (ETAS) will come into being.

Promoted by the Tamil Nadu Government, "Teaserve" is all set for launch by the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa. To familiarise the stakeholders, particularly the small tea growers, Indcoserve (apex body of the Industrial Cooperative Tea Factories) organised an awareness campaign-cum-technical demonstration in Coonoor today. Pointing out that the on-going tea crisis was multi-dimensional, the Indcoserve managing director, T. Udhayachandran, said here that one of the main reasons for the prolonged crisis was the lack of transparency in the existing manual auction system.

The objectives of Teaserve, a sellers' cooperative society, he said, were to inter alia, bring in transparency in the auction proceedings, conduct auctions adhering to the universal auction principles, remove middlemen from the auction process, give due representation to all sections in the tea industry, especially the small tea growers, and detect and eliminate tax evasion. Later, Teaserve would consider taking up the generic promotion of tea as a health drink, Mr. Udhayachandran said.

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