NEW DELHI: The government’s e-Marketplace portal (GeM) has processed orders worth Rs 1 lakh crore so far this fiscal and is expected to surpass Rs 1.8 lakh crore mark by year-end, its CEO PK Singh said on Tuesday. He stated that the GeM is likely to surpass Amazon and Flipkart by year-end.
“GEM is likely to exceed the current year’s target of Rs 1.5 lakh crore and supersede Amazon and Flipkart by year-end,” Singh said. Cumulatively, according to commerce ministry, the portal has crossed Rs 3 lakh crore of gross merchandise value since its inception in 2016.
It has over 63,000 government buyer organizations as well as over 54 lakh sellers and service providers offering a wide range of products and services. According to the commerce ministry official, defence ministry, followed by petroleum and gas ministry procured the most from MSMEs through GeM portal. Meanwhile, the GeM is assisting cooperative societies for their registration on the portal and activation of their GeM pool accounts. The cooperative societies will get direct access to over 54 lakh sellers and service providers across the country through this platform.
“Use of GeM by cooperatives will substantially enhance credibility of the cooperatives and complaints of mismanagement of funds will be reduced. This is also expected to enhance the overall “ease of doing business” for cooperatives while providing a larger buyer base for sellers on GeM,” Singh added.
In addition, GeM is also coordinating with the State Mission Coordinators and District Managers to create awareness among small businessmen in the far flung areas. It has integrated with over 1.5 lakh post offices and and 5.2 lakh village level entrepreneurs via common service centres (CSCs) for last mile outreach and service delivery.