Govt e-marketplace sees four-fold increase in turnover at Rs23,000 cr

The GeM platform recorded gross transactions of over Rs23,000 crore in gross merchandise value (GMV) through more than 1.7 million transactions and made over 8.8 lakh products available through a network of over 2 lakh sellers and service providers.

These products and services are being bought by over 34,000 government organisations (centre, state governments and PSUs) registered on the platform.

About 42 per cent of transactions by volume are done with MSMEs registered on the platform.

Buyers from across 36 states and union territories (UTs) are buying on the platform. Twenty-four states and UTs have signed a formal MoU with GeM to adopt it as the core procurement portal in their respective territories.

Gem has helped achieve average savings of more than 25 per cent across transactions.

There has also been an overall growth in other dimensions like number of categories, products and buyers. Average rejection rate of supplies remained below one per cent, which is proof of high quality of products/services offered on the portal.

GeM has been integrated with Aadhaar, UdyogAadhaar, ministry of corporate affairs21 (MCA21), Public Financial Management System (PFMS), PAN, GSTN, Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA), Railways, and Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) empanelled rating agencies for robust registration process.

Training of over 1.3 lakh buyers and sellers has been conducted across 28 states and UTs to enable them to seamlessly operate the platform.

MoUs have been signed with 12 banks for payment integration (State GeM Pool Account (SGPA), Electronic Performance Bank Guarantee (ePBG), Electronic Earnest Money Deposit (eEMD) to facilitate a cashless, contactless and paperless payment system on the platform.

MoUs have been signed with the MSME ministry, Common Service Centers (CSC) and industrial associations (CII, FICCI, AIMA, MAIT, FICCI, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry, IIA and Assocham) for facilitating training, capacity building and on boarding of manufactures and vendors across the country.

Integration has also been made with Quality Council of India (QCI) for ensuring quality compliances of the products and services offered through GeM.

Traffic on GeM website has increased by 50 per cent in FY 2018-19 year-on-year.

During the year, GeM was awarded Digital India Platinum Award for ‘Exemplary Online Service’ by the ministry of electronics & IT (MeitY). It was also nominated for the prestigious UN-ITU WSIS. GeM had taken up some special initiatives to spread awareness, train prospective users and promote inclusiveness in the marketplace. 

Apart from the states, UT, central ministries and CPSU events, 18 dedicated theme-based events, which included technology architecture, services, credit facilities, legal framework, localisation etc were held to steer the future roadmap for GeM and strategize exponential growth. As a part of inclusive agenda, another special initiative was launched to enable Women Entrepreneurs and Women led Self Help Groups to showcase and sell their products on GeM. The initiative is aptly named as ‘Womaniya’.

Another programme like SWAYATT- an initiative to promote Start-ups, Women and Youth Advantage Through e-Transactions, was launched in February 2019.In association with Start -up India, GeM Start-up Runway has been initiated to facilitate Start-ups in selling innovative products and services to government buyers.

Since its inception on 9 August 2016, GeM has transformed public procurement in the country by leveraging technology and making procurement contactless, paperless, and cashless. GeM facilitates procurement at the right price, right quality and right quantity in a transparent and efficient manner. The platform reduces manual process inefficiencies and human interventions in procurement and enables increased coverage, access, and efficiency of faceless standardised public procurement.