Indira Mahendravada

Gainers and Losers in Transition:the Case of Coffee Marketing in India: Indian Coffee Marketing Indira Mahendravada

This book is focused on coffee marketing in India. In the earlier times coffee marketing was mostly unorganized and only some of the growers were in a position to sell coffee at a remunerative price. Marketing problems prompted many growers to make efforts for an organized system. The efforts resulted in the genesis of Coffee Board in 1935. Board was holding complete control on the marketing as it was mandatory for the growers to surrender all their produce to the coffee pool. Board was conducting separate auctions for internal sale and export. This system worked well for nearly 50 years. Mounting marketing costs and delay in realization of returns prompted some growers to demand for freedom to sell on their own. In 1993, Government of India took a decision to liberalize coffee trade and initiated the process of allowing growers to sell their produce by themselves. By 1995 liberalization was complete. During this transition from controlled to liberalized marketing there were some gainers and also some losers. This study attempted to understand how the process worked for different players in the Indian coffee sector.