Public procurement from GeM portal crosses Rs 1 trillion, says CEO

Public procurement of goods and services has crossed Rs 1 trillion from government buying portal GeM since the platform was launched in August 2016

Public procurement of goods and services has crossed Rs 1 lakh crore from government buying portal GeM since the platform was launched in August 2016, on account of a sharp increase in buying activities by different ministries, a senior official said.

The Government e-Market (GeM) portal was launched on August 9, 2016, for online purchases of goods and services by all the central government ministries and departments.

GeM CEO Talleen Kumar said that since its launch, remarkable progress has been made in expanding the platform's reach and scale through a technology-driven and user-focused strategy.

"The cumulative transaction value of goods and services procured from GeM by state and central government organisations grew from Rs 51,154 crore a year ago to Rs 1,00,610.3 crore as on March 25 this year," he said.

He added that the scale and coverage of procurement is testament to the success of the portal in moving towards the vision of a Unified Procurement System with an aim to consolidate all government procurement onto a single, cohesive platform with benefits of economies of scale, efficient price discovery and dissemination of best practices.

In total, the number of sellers grew from 3.45 lakh a year ago to 12.67 lakh as on March 25.

The number of start-ups registered on the platform grew from 5,592 a year ago to 8,864 as on March 25.

Procurement of goods and services by central public sector units stood at Rs 2,884 crore upto March 25 this fiscal as compared with Rs 914 crore in 2019-20. Similarly, the Ministry of Defence procured goods and services worth Rs 5,166 crore upto March 25, 2021 compared to Rs 2,830 crore in 2019-20.

Kumar said that over 2000 software processes were deployed on the platform in the last 20 months.

"The creation of new features and functionalities and enhancements in existing features is an ongoing journey- and we are constantly engaging with procuring entities and rolling out additional functionalities for even faster, easier, more transparent and more cost-effective procurement," he added.

Currently, government departments, ministries, public sector units, state governments, and Central Armed Police Forces are allowed to carry out transactions through this portal.

The portal provides a wide range of products from office stationery to vehicles. Automobiles, computers and office furniture are currently the top product categories. Services, including transportation, logistics, waste management, web casting and analytical, are listed on the portal.