During the 2022-2023 fiscal year, the Government eMarketplace (GeM) recorded IN 2 trillion (US$ 24.4 billion) in gross merchandise value (GMV). The Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal, made the announcement recently, calling the milestone a remarkable achievement. The total procurement in the fiscal ended 31 March 2023 and stood at IN 2 trillion compared to IN 1.06 trillion in FY’22, registering a growth of 88.1%.
According to a press release, Goyal emphasised the platform’s significance as a digital tool for advancing public and national interests. GeM serves as an emblem of the government’s rapid deployment of cutting-edge technology to propel the country forward, he claimed. He was speaking at a press conference attended by journalists from different regions of the country who joined via video conferencing.
The Minister said that the government wants its departments to run at the highest levels of integrity and transparency and include people from the remotest corners of the country. Also, it enables start-ups and the MSME sector to participate in a fair and equitable manner in government procurements.
After the GeM portal was launched in 2017, business worth about INR 4 billion (US$ 48 million) was carried out, and in the second year, it was IN 58 billion (US$ 708 million). India has also crossed total exports of US$ 750 billion for the financial year 2022-23 and the final figure is expected to cross US$ 765 billion.
Cumulatively, GeM has surpassed INR 3.9 trillion (US$ 47 billion) in GMV since its inception, with the overwhelming support of its stakeholders. The total number of transactions on GeM has also crossed 14.7 million. GeM is catering to the diverse procurement needs of over 67,000 government buyer organisations. The portal features over 11,700 product categories with more than 3.2 million listed products, as well as over 280 service categories with more than 280,000 service offerings. Based on various studies, the minimum savings on the platform are about 10%, which translates to savings of INR 400 billion (US$ 4.8 billion) of public money.
GeM was launched in August 2016 by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to create an inclusive, efficient, and transparent platform for buyers and sellers to carry out procurement activities in a fair and competitive manner. In the last 6.5 years, GeM has revolutionised the ecosystem of public procurement in the country through technology, the digitisation of processes, the digital integration of all stakeholders, and the use of analytics.
GeM is an example of how digital platforms, developed with a strategic and unambiguous goal of transforming traditional practices, can result in long-lasting positive change for both the nation and the underprivileged. GeM has been a valuable contributor to the government’s commitment to “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance,” effectively promoting streamlined governance, the press release said.
The platform enables multiple procurement modes (direct purchase, L1 procurement, bidding, reverse auction, and bid followed by reverse auction). GeM has evolved as a trust-based platform and is contactless, paperless, and cashless, where authentication of users is done through API integration with respective domain databases such as Aadhaar and PAN. The marketplace includes policies for automated market adjustments as well as end-to-end digital processes that support a thriving buyer-seller ecosystem.
GeM has also developed many important functionalities in consultation with its stakeholders like push button procurement, single packet bidding, and annual procurement plans. AI/ML-based use cases help buyers make more informed decisions.
Through the automation and digitisation of processes, GeM has led to higher process efficiencies, better information sharing, improved transparency, reduced process cycle times, and a higher level of trust among bidders. This has led to greater competition and higher savings.
