mjunction services limited, India’s largest B2B e-commerce company, will hold its first International Tea Day special auction on June 21 at its Jorhat tea e-marketplace, which was launched last year amid the lockdown.
The teas on offer at this special e-auction will include only the most premium teas as stipulated by the Tea Board of India to mark this occasion. Producers ensure that the tea offered is of premium quality by plucking only “two leaves and a bud” on May 21, which is celebrated as International Tea Day.
For its debut e-auction, mjunction’s centre at Jorhat has received some of the best of Assam’s CTC/Green and Orthodox marks such as Hookhmal, Muktabari, Aideobari, Rangliting, Narayanpur, Diroibam, Lankashi, Durgapur, Kathonibari, Arin and Pabhojan. Buyers from all over India will include premium tea retail chains, high-end tea shops and cafés, packeteers who sell luxury/premium tea packs and specialty tea traders.
mjunction MD Mr Vinaya Varma said, “We all look forward to celebrate Indian Tea. The last two years have been tough on the tea industry. All stakeholders, including small growers and small buyers, have been adversely affected due to the pandemic. This initiative will certainly do its bit in lifting the spirits of the industry.”
“mjunction’s auction centre, located at the heart of the growing region, brings together buyers, sellers, financers, logistic service providers, tea tasters and the warehouse on a digital e-marketplace, ensuring efficiency, cost saving, and freshest produce to the stakeholders,” Mr Varma added.
In the last one year, mjunction’s e-marketplace connected with hundreds of sellers and buyers across the country, fetched some record prices and received offerings of more than 1.3 million kg of tea from Assam, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. Nearly 300 stakeholders, consisting of major tea buyers and sellers, are registered in this tea e-marketplace.
“Pan India operations, ease of doing business, 50% reduction in sales cycle time, rent-free storage, real-time dashboards, proximity of the centre to tea gardens, sale of FSSAI compliant teas, cost benefit to both buyers and sellers and fair market price discovery are some of the advantages that have attracted both buyers and sellers to this comprehensive e-marketplace, with facilities like a free state-of-the-art warehouse, quality assessment, financial assistance and logistics support, where auction is only a part of the whole solution.
“We are focused on bringing down the sales cycle-time and make freshly produced tea available in the market, directly from the producing region in the shortest possible time. We want to make the supply-chain efficient, and ease up the working capital burden of the stakeholders,” Mr Varma added.
An international tea e-marketplace is on the anvil in the near future, Mr Varma informed.
mjunction has supported its tea e-marketplace ecosystem by donating 150 infrared thermometers during the pandemic. It also launched its School Integration and English Helper Programmes at Jorhat as part of its CSR efforts. These programmes will benefit 1300 students in six government schools.
About mjunction
mjunction services limited, an equal joint venture of Tata Steel and SAIL, is India’s largest B2B e-commerce company and a leading e-marketplace for steel in the world.
Since inception in 2001, mjunction has e-transacted over Rs 10,53,663 crore till FY21 on its various e-platforms. It has service offerings spanning the entire B2B e-commerce spectrum and covers e-sales, e-sourcing, e-procurement, e-finance and loyalty solutions. More than 3 lakh entities transact on these platforms, and it has conducted 27,000 e-auctions on its platforms in FY21 alone.
mjunction stepped into the e-marketplace world in 2020 with its tea e-marketplace at Jorhat in Assam, set up in association with the Tea Board of India.
It is using futuristic technology such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Robotics Process Automation to upgrade its various processes.
Headquartered in Kolkata, India, mjunction has a strength of about 900 professionals across 20 offices across the country, and a presence in more than 40 locations. Internationally, it has a business footprint in Australia, Singapore, UK and the United Arab Emirates. mjunction also has its own offices in UAE and UK.
mjunction is a socially conscious organisation, imparting basic computer and communication training to the underprivileged through its trust ejunction, not only making them employable, but also creating employment opportunities for them. Since 2007, it has touched over 50,000 lives, based largely on the employee volunteering model, and has created more than 15,000 employment opportunities.
