Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal highlighted the huge growth in procurement from Government e-Marketplace (GeM) in the last three years.
The Minister noted that GeM is leading to a unified, transparent and efficient procurement system through leveraging technology and analytics.
Goyal said that the saving of taxpayers’ money due to increased use of GeM by Central and State Departments for procurement of goods and services has resulted in its better utilisation for public welfare projects.
The Minister expressed hope that overall procurement of goods and services from the government portal GeM would cross Rs 3 lakh Crore in FY 2022-23 as it has already crossed Rs 2 lakh crore in 2022-23.
The Minister said that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is continuously trying to improvise the system. The new system is being developed at GeM, which will be more contemporary and modern with more elements for ease of operations. He said that data analytics will be offered in the new system to help the buyers and sellers in making decisions related to procurement. India’s largest software exporter TCS has won the contract for running and maintaining the government procurement portal GeM.
GeM has been instrumental in transforming the way government procurement is done in India. Established in 2016, GeM was set up with a vision to bring about a paradigm shift in the country’s public procurement landscape. The platform has enabled transparency, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness in the procurement process, making it easier for buyers to procure goods and services from sellers across the country.
As on 31st March 2023, GeM had recorded a staggering ₹ 2 lakh crore of Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in FY 2022-23. Cumulatively, GeM has surpassed the ₹ 4.29 lakh crore GMV since its inception, with the overwhelming support of its stakeholders. The total number of transactions on GeM has also crossed 1.54 crore. GeM is catering to the diverse procurement needs of over 69,000 government buyer organisations.
The portal features over 11,800+ product categories as well as over 280+ service categories. Based on various studies, the minimum savings on the platform are about 10%, which translates into a savings of ~ ₹ 40,000 crore worth of public money.
– PIB
