**OT** India's biggest Tea Auction House Eyes Internet.
(REUTR)
By Himangshu Watts
CALCUTTA, India, March 10 (Reuters) - India's oldest and largest tea auction house, J. Thomas and Co Pvt Ltd, is to start trading on the internet later this year to compete with entrepreneurs who have already set up tea trade websites.
"Various people have developed sites but we are developing our own site. Others have talked to us but we will do it on our own," P.K Sen, chairman and managing director of J Thomas told Reuters on Friday.
Among sites about to challenge the traditional auction system is a website teauction.com , which was launched on Wednesday.
The site will provide weather reports, auction news, tea statistics and tea news, said Ketan Desai, commercial manager of the project.
"We will provide efficient service to tea buyers and sellers at competitively lower rates," he said.
Last month, another website, teanetcom.com set up a portal for tea, offering news, auction reports and a platform for buyers and sellers to meet.
J Thomas, which handles a third of all tea auctioned in India, amounting to 13 billion rupees in 1998, hopes to take advantage of its goodwill in the market, Sen said.
"Everybody is welcome to start a website, but we have the credibility. In tea trade, the sale must be concluded - to the final conclusion with good delivery," Sen said.
Sen said J. Thomas aimed to provide a superior service once it started trading on the Internet although it was not going to rush into it.
"We are not going to start it tomorrow...but once we start, it is going to be foolproof."
He said the website would be launched some time this year.
J Thomas was examining various aspects including government regulations which require a certain percentage of tea produced in every tea garden to be sold at auctions, company officials said. ((Calcutta Newsroom +91-33-476-9260 Fax +91-33-476-9252 himangshu.watts@reuters.com)).
-REUTERS NEWS SERVICE |
