PM Modi hails the performance
(Photo/Twitter-@narendramodi)
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24, 2022, appreciated Government e-Marketplace (GeM) for achieving annual procurement of Rs. 1 lakh crore in Financial Year 2021-22.
In a tweet, the Prime Minister said: “Happy to know that @GeM_India has achieved order value of Rs 1 Lakh Crore in a single year! This is a significant increase from previous years. The GeM platform is especially empowering MSMEs, with 57% of order value coming from MSME sector.”
The GeM is an online platform for public procurement in India, which was envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The initiative was launched on August 9, 2016, by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, GoI, with an objective to create an open and transparent procurement platform for government buyers.
Created in a record time of five months, GeM facilitates online procurement of common-use Goods and Services.
According to an independent assessment made by the World Bank, the average savings for buyers on the Government e-Marketplace portal is about 9.75% on the median price, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry informed in a press release.
“In an analysis in the Economic Survey 2021-22, cost comparison of various commodities on GeM with those of popular online platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart showed that GeM prices were 9.5% lower. Ten out of 22 commodities in the sample were cheaper on the GeM portal as compared to other platforms,” the release added.
The Ministry also informed that the GeM is integrating with Panchayati Raj Institutions to allow online buying and selling by the Panchayats at the grassroots level. The pilot in Gurgaon district panchayats has been successfully completed. Gem is in an advanced stage of integration with IndiaPost for extending logistics services at the grassroots level.
As of today, there are 5,276,715 products, 4,009,528 Sellers & Service Providers on the GeM platform.
The GeM was adjudged as the winner in the “Best Use of Digital Technology” category at the CIPS Excellence in Procurement Awards 2021 held in London, informed the release.
The GeM emerged the winner in this category after competing with some of the biggest and best names in procurement across the public and private sector globally, including GEP, Jaguar Land Rover, Royal Dutch Shell, VenDigital, and Shell, the release added.
The GeM was also shortlisted as a finalist in two additional categories as well, i.e. ‘Public Procurement Project of the Year’ and ‘Best Initiative to Build a Diverse Supply Base’ where it was in the august company of some path-breaking organizations with great initiatives. (Press Release)
