Calcutta, May 13 :     The gavel is finally about to fall on physical tea auctions. J Thomas & Co, the country's largest auction house, has decided to start cyber auction of teas. J. Thomas has made a formal presentation to the producer community on how the system will work so that the entire auction can be carried out smoothly over the Net. The company will take another three months to put the entire system in place. J. Thomas is the biggest auctioneer in both north and south India. In 1999, it conducted auctions for more than 170 million kg of tea at Calcutta, Guwahati and Siliguri tea auctions. 'It has also emerged as a major player in southern India,' a senior tea industry official said. The presentation was made by P.K. Sen, chairman of J Thomas & Co, before the members of the Indian Tea Association. ITA sources said Sen tried to explain to the producers how tea could be auctioned over the Net at a much lower cost with the same safeguards and guarantees as in the traditional auction. The presentation also tried to show how the bids would work on the Net, the active time of the bids, how the base reservation price would be determined and how the buyers would come to know the highest bid recorded. The tea industry had been saying that several grey areas and problems relating to cyber auctions remain unanswered. The principal issues relate to assurances about credit facilities available from major auctioneers, assurance of quality from brokers, and the creation of a transparent payment mechanism. Sources said all J Thomas addressed all these issues in its presentation. J. Thomas has proposed that there should be a central warehouse where the tea will be stocked. This will ensure that the buyers get deliveries of tea that will match the samples that the sellers send them. The new system will also help ensure better spread of teas among potential buyers. At present, about 55 per cent of the total production comes through the auction system and private sales account for about 45 per cent. However, under the Tea Marketing Control Order, around 75 per cent of production should be routed via the auctions.