Business
Tea Board shuts Jorhat auction centre, leaving Guwahati as Assam's only one
Upper Assam growers will now depend on the Guwahati centre after the Jorhat e-marketplace was discontinued.
By Editorial Desk ยท 29 April 2026
The Tea Board of India has discontinued the Jorhat Tea Auction Centre, also known as the Jorhat e-Marketplace, with effect from 1 April 2026. The decision was conveyed through a circular dated 26 March 2026.
The Board said the move is meant to bring uniform regulatory oversight under a new pan-India digital auction framework. It is setting up a web-based auction platform with built-in e-commerce on a Build, Own and Operate model. Sellers and buyers have been asked to use the existing pan-India auction system under the Tea (Marketing) Control Order, 2003.
Impact on Upper Assam
The Jorhat centre opened in May 2020 as India's eighth tea auction centre and the second in Assam. It sold about 4 million kg of tea last year, making it the state's second largest auction platform. With its closure, the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre, set up in 1970, is the only one left in Assam.
Golaghat, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Charaideo, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia together produce about 450 million kg of tea a year. Growers and industry groups say the decision was taken without enough consultation and could hurt the region, since most gardens are in Upper Assam, closer to Jorhat than to Guwahati.
Source: EastMojo
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