Centre set to make 100% procurement through Government e-Marketplace

Guwahati: The Centre has set a target of 75% purchase through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) by August 15 and 100% procurement by the end of the current fiscal year.

On July 22, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal presided over a review meeting of the Government e-Marketplace. Over 50 federal ministries and 50 CPSEs were asked to offer buyer feedback.

Goyal emphasized the need to change the perception that public procurement is a source of corruption. He said that GeM has brought about a sea change in the way public procurement is perceived by the public at large. He expressed the hope that GeM will continue its engagement with all stakeholders and going forward will also focus on ease of doing procurement. He desired that GeM should be benchmarked against the best in the class rather than being benchmarked against other Government systems.

GeM has made significant strides since its inception in fiscal 2018-19. The Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) rose from Rs. 16,972 crores in 2018-19 to Rs. 1,06,760 crores in 2021-22; and registered a growth of 178 percent in FY 2021-22 compared to the previous fiscal.

GeM has about 61,440 government buyer organizations and about 47.99 lakh sellers and service providers with a rich listing of over 41.44 lakh product offerings and 1.9 lakh service offerings. All states (except Sikkim) have already signed MoUs with GeM. As many as 239 CPSUs are also registered on the GeM portal.

The Minister said that aggregation of demand because of procurement happening through a single portal will help in reducing the cost of procurement also for Govt. Buyers. "With collective wisdom and collective efforts of all stakeholders, GeM can well become the largest marketplace for public procurement in the world," he added.

Goyal added that there was a need to keep a strict vigil on GeM procurement data and identify any deviant behaviours using Advanced Analytics and AI ML-based tools so that immediate and strict action could be taken against any such deviant behaviours.

The Centre has onboarded products of Self-Help Groups (SHGs), tribal communities, craftsmen, weavers, and MSMEs with a view to making the platform more inclusive on the platform. 57 percent of the total business on GeM has come through the MSE units and over 6 percent has been contributed by women entrepreneurs. GeM is also integrating with Panchayati Raj Institutions to allow online buying and selling by the Panchayats at the grassroots level. GeM is also in an advanced stage of integration with India Post for extending logistics services at the grassroots level. GeM SAHAY is another initiative of GeM to facilitate small sellers to avail of credit financing from various integrated lenders against the Orders received on GeM.

The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is an online platform for public procurement in India which was envisaged by the Hon’ble Prime Minister. The vision for GeM expounded by the Hon’ble Prime Minister was to drive the three pillars of inclusivity, efficiency with attendant cost savings and transparency along with more and more usability. The initiative was launched on August 9, 2016, by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, with the objective to create an open and transparent procurement platform for government buyers. The portal has transformed public procurement in India by driving its three pillars viz. inclusivity, transparency, and efficiency.