It said its real time auction system, for roses, other flowers and commodities, could be accessed by users through the Internet. "We have developed one of the world's fastest real time auction engines on the Internet that performs at 1/22 of a second and named it bazar or the marketplace," KS Ramakrishna, chief of the firm, told reporters here.

"It is at present catering to the needs of flora portal www.rosebazar.com and can be used as a platform for other auctions," he said. The auction system provides bid acknowledgement, updates and results in real time and growers would provide digital pictures of the products being put up for auction.

"We have already sold a quarter of a million rose stems. The digital pictures will enable the buyer to see the real product," Ramakrishna said. He said the perishable nature of the product and "huge arbitrage" costs had led to the company developing the portal.

"There will be lesser layers of intermediation leading to value-addition and a win-win situation to the customer," he said.