AGARTALA | Tripura is set to launch its first live tea auction centre in Agartala in September, a move aimed at providing local tea producers direct access to buyers from across the country and strengthening the state’s position in India’s tea market.

Preparations for the proposed auction centre are nearing completion, with tea buyers and producers from Assam and West Bengal showing interest in participating in the new facility, Tripura Tea Development Corporation Ltd (TTDCL) Chairman Samir Ranjan Ghosh said.

Ghosh said a buyer-seller meeting held in Kolkata on July 31 was attended by around 53 buyers associated with the city’s tea auction. A similar meeting was organised in Guwahati on August 6, where tea producers and buyers were briefed on the proposed Agartala centre and the auction process.

Officials from the Guwahati tea auction centre also demonstrated the auction procedure to Tripura officials and industry stakeholders as part of the preparations. “We are hopeful that next month, in September, we will be able to successfully conduct a live auction at the proposed auction centre in Agartala,” Ghosh said.

Officials from the Guwahati auction centre are expected to visit Tripura to assist with the initial auction-related activities and help ensure a smooth launch.

The new centre will operate from a government facility at Gurkhabasti in Agartala, which was earlier associated with the Industries Department. According to TTDCL, the required infrastructure and arrangements at the premises have been completed.

The Agartala auction will follow the pan-India auction system of the Tea Board of India, similar to the systems operating in Guwahati and Kolkata. The platform will allow tea buyers from different parts of the country to participate in auctions conducted in Tripura.

The initiative is expected to reduce the dependence of local producers on markets outside the state and provide them with a more direct route to national buyers. The move comes as the state government seeks to revive and expand Tripura’s tea industry, which Ghosh described as one of the state’s oldest industries but one that remained relatively underdeveloped for years.

Investor interest in the sector has also increased, with agreements reportedly signed for proposed investments worth around Rs 831 crore. Ghosh said the proposed investments reflected growing confidence in Tripura’s business environment.

“Whenever an industry comes to a state, one of the first priorities investors look at is law and order. The law-and-order situation in our state is very good, and Tripura is also considered an industry-friendly state,” he said. Ghosh credited the state government’s support for the progress made towards establishing the auction centre and said the proposal submitted to NITI Aayog had received approval.

With buyers from Assam and West Bengal already showing interest, the Agartala auction centre is expected to provide a new marketing avenue for Tripura’s tea producers while helping the state gain a stronger foothold in India’s organised tea trade.