India's e-auction system criticized by tea trade body
Pan-India electronic tea auction system may still have issues to iron out since its launch in July, at least according to Indian Tea Association, which claims the system is plagued by payment reconciliation issues and has thus far failed to deliver on its goal of realizing better prices for the commodity. Specifically, the board criticized the failure of the payment settlement system to interact with auction organizers and participants, leading to mismatches between tea deliveries and invoicing and a delay in clearing payments. Also, brokers and sellers are reportedly unable to reconcile tax invoices and correctly account for factors such as weight, tax and other order details when accepting purchases.