Evolution and Growth
 Siliguri Tea Auction Centre was inaugurated on 29th October 1976 in presence of the then Chief Minister of West Bengal Shri Sidharta Shankar Roy and other Central and State Ministers. At the start on 29th October, 1976 we had 16 Seller Members, 132 Buyer Members & 7 Broker Members with a total registered Warehouse area of 39,726 sq. ft. Now in the year 2008 there are 359 Seller Members, 397 Buyer Members, 9 Broker Members and a total area of 5,38,000 sq. ft registered warehouse with the Committee. About 2.7 million kgs ofteas were sold in the available time of two months in the first year Auction. The sales reached the peak figure of about 99.0 million kgs during 1988. During the year 1982, Siliguri Tea Auctions attained the glory of being the biggest CTC tea-selling center in the World. From 15th March 1999 onwards the Dust sales are being held in the ground floor Auction Hall simultaneously with Leaf sales in the 1st floor of the STAC Building. At the beginning 1 or 2 Transporters and 1 Courier Companies were operating in Siliguri for transporting tea and trade samples to up country Buyers and major blenders. At Present there are about 38 Transporters Companies and 26 Courier Companies operating at Siliguri to transport tea in each and every corner of India within 7 days of time from the date of sale of tea in this Tea Auction Centre. This is possibly the fastest delivery network amongst the Auction Centers in India. Some major Blenders and many local packeteers are purchasing through this Auction Centre and make their own blend for packeting at Siliguri and selling to up country customers. About 30,000 persons or more are directly or indirectly employed in the tea trading at Siliguri.
History of Tea Plantation
Tea plant and its origin was discovered in Chaina in the year 2737 B.C by the Emperor Sheng Nung. It was first named THEA SINENSIS and is now known as ‘CAMELLIA SINENSIS’ Tea can be classified into the following four types:
- Chinees big Leaf Tea
- Chinees small Leaf Tea
- Shan Tea
- Indian Tea
Tea plant originally grew in mountains, forest area and gradually moved to lower areas of Terai, where the ecological systems are different from the other places.
In the year 400 – 600 AD first cultivation process was started in China. In the year between 618 – 907 AD tea becomes a popular drink in China for both its flavour and medicinal values. In the year 1657 tea was imported to London and sold as health drink.
In the year 1835 the East India Company started first Indian Tea Plantation in ASSAM.
In the year 1840 – 50 the tea plants were imported from China & India to Sri Lanka for cultivation.
In the year 1856 tea was planted in Darjeeling District and its surrounding Area in North Bengal.
In the year 1910 tea was cultivated in Indonesia followed by Kenya and other countries.
During the first 20 years of starting of tea plantations in India, the area of tea cultivation grown up rapidly. The number of tea gardens were increased from one garden in the year 1850 to 295 in 1871.
The efforts were initiated for research works on the manufacturing of tea in India. For the purpose Indian Tea Association was formed in the year 1890 and scientific research works on tea was started in the year 1900.
In the year 1861 the first tea Auction was started in Kolkata and Calcutta Tea Traders Association, the first Indian Tea Auction Organiser was started functioning in the year 1886.
To maintain overall control on tea – Tea Board was constituted by the Government of India in the year 1949 under Tea Control Act.
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