Govt, original equipment manufacturers to tackle fraud on purchase portal

After repeated allegations of counterfeit goods being sold through the national procurement portal, the government has now teamed up with original equipment manufacturers (OEMS) to tackle the issue.

Counterfeit computer hardware and information technology-related items top the list of products where complaints have piled up on the government e-marketplace (GeM). 

Since last year, the government has mandated that all public sector agencies at the Centre and states directly purchase common-use goods and services on the GeM platform. 

Sellers have to register on the platform and compete with others in an open-market model. Inaugurated in August 2016, the portal has repeatedly been pushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a means to reduce large-scale corruption that had hitherto plagued the estimated Rs 5 trillion worth of procurement the government does every year, from pens to vehicles.

The portal now features more than 660,000 products, from office stationery to vehicles and, 1,862 services – including transportation, logistics, waste management, web casting and analytical, among others, GeM’s chief executive officer Radha Chauhan said. The total value of orders placed on the portal stands at Rs153 billion, made through more than one million separate orders.

However, an increasing number of buyers had complained of being sold faulty or decoy products by distributors or re-sellers. As a result, the government has now partnered more than 100 major brands such as HP, Infosys, TCS and Wipro, among others, senior officials said. Other companies such as Godrej also figure in the list. Cases of fraud dealerships and re-sellers will now be taken up by the concerned OEM, officials added.