Tea e-auction fails, govt blames consultants

 However, Ramesh was categorical in his criticism of IBM and Accenture and said that the failure had delayed the electronic auction system. "We are running late by a year and effectively by two years," he said. "I would love to take legal action, if it were possible," Ramesh said.

Accenture could not be contacted for comments. The ministry expects that with an effective introduction of the electronic system, it would take around one year for all teas to be routed through the system.

The board has not paid IBM at all, their bank guarantee has been revoked and a part of payment to Accenture has been held back, Basudeb Banerjee, chairman of Tea Board of India said.

The problem was with the software. Around 200 laptops were lying at the Kolkata auction centre unpacked, which would be inuaugurated in June, Ramesh said.