Central Railway holds 1-day meet on e-marketplace

Central Railway held a one-day meeting on the national mission on government e-marketplace (GeM) to get more sellers and buyers on board, an official said Friday.

The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is a paperless, cashless and system driven platform that enables procurement of goods and services by ministries, departments, PSUs and autonomous bodies etc.

D K Sharma, Central Railway general manager inaugurated the meet Thursday and said GeM was a powerful platform that has various advantages for buyers and sellers.

He added that the cost of procurement of materials will drastically come down with the increased use of GeM, which in turn will reduce the railways' operating expenditure.

V R Mishra, Principal Chief Materials Manager CR, also praised the GeM system.

Over 425 officials from Central, Western and Konkan Railways attended the meet with officials claiming that it was among the highest for such a meet involving government departments.

A CR press release said GeM has gained considerable acceptance among government organisations and sellers, registering around 4.25 lakh products and online transactions worth over Rs 10,500 crore.

It added that since this is only a fraction of potential procurement, a nation-wide "Mission on GeM" is being observed from September 6 to October 17 with an aim to have more buyers and sellers on board.