The formal Indian tea auction system sets a prompt date — the deadline by which buyers must pay brokers — at 13 to 14 days after the auction close at major centres like Guwahati and Kolkata. That is the floor for auction-traded tea. For direct sales between estates and branded buyers, the terms are significantly longer: 60 to 90 days for domestic buyers, and longer for international export. Small estates selling directly to distributors regularly face payment cycles that exceed 90 days.
“You cannot ask a garden to think about quality when they are thinking about paying this month's wages.
— Arjun Singh, Co-Founder
The Plantation Labour Act of 1951 requires tea estates to pay workers weekly or fortnightly. It does not wait for the estate's receivables to clear. This mismatch — estates owed money in 90 days, workers owed wages every two weeks — forces gardens to take short-term loans at high interest rates. The interest on those loans reduces cash available for quality inputs: better plucking standards, equipment maintenance, sorting upgrades, worker training.
We pay within seven days of delivery. This is not a large gesture. It costs us a small amount of working capital. What it returns is specific: estate managers make better decisions when they are not making decisions under financial pressure. They hold a flush longer when it needs more time. They reject leaves that do not meet standard. They invest in the picker training that separates fine plucking from coarse.
Documented cases of workers going unpaid for a month in North Bengal estates are not caused by bad actors — they are caused by structural cash-flow gaps that begin upstream, with buyers who delay. The seven-day payment term is not a marketing statement. It is a purchasing decision made because we believe it directly improves what ends up in your cup.