History of Calcutta Tea Traders Association

On 27th December 1861, the first tea auction in India was conducted under the instructions of R Thomas & Company, general brokers, by the firm, Mackenzie Lyall at No.2 Mission Row, Calcutta.

On 19th of February 1862, a second auction was held and conducted by the firm of W Moran & Co at No.5 Bankshall Street. Shortly after this, on 25th February 1862, a third auction took place at the old Mint Mart where 751 chests of tea were disposed of by W Moran & Co on behalf of the Assam Tea Co and Jorehaut Tea Co.

On 24th of March 1862, 100 lots consisting of 462 chests were auctioned at the New Mart, 8 Mission Row by R Thomas & Co and from then on, auctions at this address became a regular feature. Up to 1886, the tea auctions were held under the auspices of the Calcutta Tea Brokers Association. From 1887, they were brought under the general jurisdiction of the Calcutta Tea Traders Association.

On 15th September 1886, the Calcutta Tea Traders Association was formed to foster the interests of the tea trade with the principal objective of promoting the common interest of sellers, buyers and brokers of tea in the Calcutta market. There were 41 members of the Association at that time, some of whom are still well known names in the tea trade.

In July 1887, the first Tea Transit Sheds were opened in Calcutta. These were discontinued with the dislocation of the river route in 1971.

CTC manufacture was introduced in 1932.

Cochin Tea Auctions started on 4th July 1947.

The Central Tea Board was constituted and held its first meeting on 1st August 1949. The Tea Act was promulgated in 1953.

The Tea Industry adopted the Metric System of Weights and Measures on 1st March 1960.

The Calcutta Tea Auctions celebrated 100 years of existence in December 1961. The Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone of Nilhat House and the new Auction Room at 11, R N Mukherjee Road, Calcutta. A charity auction was held on the occasion and the proceeds amounting to Rs 4.25 lakhs were donated to the National Relief Fund.

In 1962, there was a decided shift from Orthodox to CTC manufacture. Arrivals of tea by road to Calcutta began to increase. This was also the year of the Indo-China War which caused severe hardship to the tea industry particularly at the gardens.

The Indo-Pakistan war in 1965 resulted in the closure of the river route from Assam. This heralded a rapid change from river to rail and road transport.

1966 was the last year during which Legg-cut teas were manufactured in India. 1966 was also the first year during which experiments were carried out with palletised tea cargo for exports. A Glossary of Tea Tasting Terms was officially prepared by the Indian Standards Institution (ISI).

In 1970, the Assam Government initiated meetings for opening a tea auction centre at Guwahati. The first public auction of tea was inaugurated in Guwahati on 25th September 1970.

In the 1973/74 Season, the Calcutta Auction catalogues and Sales were divided into CTC, Orthodox, Darjeeling and Dust, each to be sold separately.

The first public auction of tea in Siliguri was held on 29th October 1976.

With effect from January 1980, Calcutta Sale No.1 began to be held in the first week of January and not in the first week of April, conforming to the practice of all major tea centres, Guwahati and Siliguri also held Sale No.1 in the first week of January.

Coimbatore Tea Auctions started on 22nd November 1980.

In 1983, tea prices escalated sharply following several years of stagnant production, good exports and an increase in domestic consumption. As a result, on 24th December 1983, the Government of India under the Tea (Distribution and Export) Control (2nd Amendment) Order banned export of CTC tea except for tea bags and/or packets and for teas bought and contracted before the Order. The ban was lifted on 12th May 1984 but reimposed from 3rd September 1984 and finally lifted in mid-1985. A scheme of imposing a Minimum Export Price (MEP) was announced and took effect in September 1984. The scheme was lifted in August 1985. Tea prices failed to react to this measure and the year 1984 saw a further sharp rise in prices, quite unprecedented and the highest ever recorded. Several control measures were taken to arrest the rising prices, these included the Tea (Regulation of Export Licensing) Order 1984, the Tea (Marketing) Control Order 1984. Broker members in all auction centres and all auction organisers (including CTTA) obtained Licences from Tea Board under TMCO, 1984. Similarly, all tea estates with factories obtained registration certificates form Tea Board under TMCO, 1984 for carrying on the business of a manufacturers of tea.

TMCO, 1984 was replaced by TMCO, 2003. It was made mandatory for all buyers who wished to purchase teas in the public auctions and/or directly from tea producers to obtain a registration certificate from Tea Board under TMCO, 2003 for carrying on the business of buyers of tea.

The Centenary celebrations of CTTA were held in 1986/87.

In May 1986, directives were issued by the Chairman, Tea Board instructing CTTA that buyers will be eligible for free trade samples in 1987-88 on the basis of the purchases during 1986-87 i.e. in a single year instead of aggregate purchases in 3 consecutive year as per CTTA Rules. For 2001-02, as per Tea Board Directives, buyers’ purchases in 2 consecutive years were taken into account for eligibility to free trade samples and from 2002-03, buyers’ purchases in 3 consecutive years were taken into account for eligibility to free trade samples.

On 6th April 2006, directives were issued by the Chairman, Tea Board to CTTA, GTAC and STAC to ensure payment of buying brokerage by buyers to brokers at the following rates with effect from 17th April 2006 (later deferred to 2nd May 2006):

• Kolkata : @ 0.30%
• Guwahati : @ 0.22%
• Siliguri : @ 0.20%

The buying brokerage payable @ 0.30% came into effect from Sale No.18 held on 2nd May 2006.

With effect from Sale No.26 of 2007, a cap of 30 paise per kg was introduced.

From Sale No.31 of 1982 to Sale No.17 of 2006, buying brokerage in Calcutta was payable @ 5 paise per kg.

Eauctions of tea were introduced in 2009 by the Tea Board. Eauctions were introduced in Kolkata from Sale No.24 of 2009 for Dust teas, from Sale No.14 of 2010 for CTC Leaf teas, from Sale No.29 of 2011 for Orthodox Leaf teas and from Sale No.25 of 2016 for Darjeeling Leaf teas.

In January 2009, directives were issued by the Chairman, Tea Board for introduction of cash & carry system and settlement banking in the North Indian Auction Centres.

Pan India Auction Rules were introduced by the Tea Board with effect from May 2016. Tea Board appointed ICICI Bank as the Settlement Bank for all auction centres in February 2018.

The business of CTTA is managed by a General Committee comprising of 5 seller members, 5 buyer members and 5 broker members. It is the practice that the posts of Chairman and Vice-Chairman alternate between buyer members and seller members. As per convention, broker members do not hold the posts of Chairman or Vice-Chairman.

The General Committee is assisted by several Sub-Committees viz. Rules Sub-Committee, Standing Sales Sub-Committee, Claims Sub-Committee, Sample Committee, Commercial Taxes & Finance Sub-Committee, Tea Warehouse Advisory Committee, etc.

The expenses of the Association are met by way of an annual subscription payable by each member.