Government e Marketplace (GeM)

Government e Marketplace (GeM) is a contactless, paperless and cashless online marketplace that replaced the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D) in 2016. Since its inception, GeM has brought in the visibility and transparency in public procurement. The portal has transformed public procurement in India by driving its three pillars, namely, inclusion, usability and transparency and efficiency and cost savings. According to an independent assessment made by the World Bank, average savings for buyers in Government e Marketplace portal is about 9.75% on the median price.  The Government of India has made it mandatory for sellers to display the ‘country of origin’ on products to be sold on GeM portal.

GeM’s three key pillars — Efficient, Transparent, and Inclusiveness — ensure that business in the Government e Marketplace is quick and easy. It is Inclusive since it allows anyone and everyone to do business on GeM, Efficient for conducting business operations smoothly, and Transparent for fair business practices. In addition, the platform seeks to improve openness, effectiveness, and speed in public procurement. It offers a wide range of procurement methods, including direct purchase, electronic bidding, electronic reverse auction, and direct reverse auction. The digital platform enables economies of scale, efficient price discovery, and dissemination of best practices. According to Rule 149 of the General Financial Rules 2017, the procurement of goods and services by ministries, government agencies, and Public Sector Enterprises is now mandated to be done through the GeM portal. State Governments are also encouraged to purchase through GeM.

Initiatives of GeM

• The Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare Shri Parshottam Rupala launched the dedicated web page for Bamboo products and quality planting materials on the GeM portal in June 2021. The page is referred to as ‘The Green Gold Collection’.
• In order to help the proprietors, meet with large-scale orders, GeM launched a Google Playstore App GeM SAHAY in June 2021 that helps the proprietors in getting loans against their purchase orders.
• On the occasion of World Environment Day 2021, a new product category of ‘Green Room Air Conditioners’ was launched on GeM portal.
• GeM launched a dedicated page for COVID19 products in June 2021 that helped in meeting with emergency requirements of oxygen cylinders, concentrators, kits etc.
• GeM as a mark of inclusivity, its third pillar, opened the portal for onboarding specially-abled sellers under its initiative ‘Divyangjan entrepreneurs’ in June 2021.
• The Unified Procurement System for goods and services was launched in October 2020 with the integration of the Central Public Procurement Portal (CPPP) with GeM and the functionalities of the “GeM Availability Report and Past Transaction Summary” and “custom bids”.
• In December 2019, GeM launched a two-month-long national outreach program called GeM Samvaad to facilitate the on boarding of sellers while catering to specific requirements and procurement needs of buyers.
• GeM Start-up Runway was launched to facilitate startups in selling innovative products and services to government users in April 2019.
• In February 2019, GeM started an initiative called SWAYATT to promote Startups, Women and Youth Advantage through eTransactions on the Government e Marketplace portal. It was launched by Suresh Prabhu, the Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation.
• On January 14, 2019, the Union Government launched an initiative called ‘Womaniya on Government e Marketplace’ that enables women entrepreneurs and Women Self-Help Groups to sell handicrafts, handloom, and accessories directly to Government departments.
• The National Mission on GeM (NMG) was launched on September 5, 2018, by Suresh Prabhu, the Commerce and Industry Minister to accelerate the adoption and use of GeM by major central ministries, states, UTs and their agencies, including CPSUs, PSUs and local bodies.