The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has since its inception achieved a total procurement value of Rs 2,70,384 crore as of July 25, 2022, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel said on Friday.
The Government of India set up the GeM in 2016 as an e-marketplace to revolutionise public procurement in India by leveraging technology.
The Union Cabinet, in its meeting held on June 1 2022, gave its approval for expanding the mandate of GeM to allow procurement by cooperatives as buyers on GeM.
Previously, public procurement in India was characterized by inefficient, opaque, and time consuming manual processes conducted offline, complicated by a fragmented and complex policy landscape.
GeM's approach is underlined by a commitment to three pillars of transparency, efficiency and inclusiveness, Patel said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
GeM is an open marketplace wherein it promotes open access to information in a transparent manner. Relevant information on sellers, goods and services is easy to find and readily available for users. GeM provides database insights to support its users in the decision-making process.
GeM's focus on inclusiveness is multifaceted, involving not only making the platform usable and trusted by every type of seller but also conducting active outreach to onboard marginalized and underserved seller segments including Small and Medium Enterprises, women entrepreneurs, startups and artisans.
In view of being an end-to-end online and integrated portal, GeM brings efficiency in Public Procurement by removing manual interventions at various stages of Public Procurement.
The government has amended the General Financial Rules 2017 (GFR) and made a provision under Rule 149 for making it mandatory to procure Goods and Services through GeM.
( With inputs from ANI )
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