NEW DELHI: The value of average orders placed per day on the government’s e-Market Place (GeM) portal has increased 46% to Rs 426 crore in the period between April 2022 and January 3, 2023, from `292 crore per day in FY22, a government official told this newspaper.
The average per day order placed was Rs 69 crore in financial year 2020-21. “Of the total orders placed, more than 55% of them are through micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME). In addition, 8% orders are through women-owned MSMEs.
In the past three years, orders worth Rs 11,300 crore have been placed through these women-owned MSMEs,” the official cited above said. He said that the states are also using GeM as it is speedier and more efficient than their own mechanisms for procurement of goods and services.
He further added that the government is also trying to promote its initiative “one district one product” to promote art and craft products through the GeM portal. Centre launched the GeM portal in 2016 for online purchase of goods and services by all the central government departments and ministries. Currently, more than 54 lakh sellers are registered on GeM portal to sell lakhs of services and products.
Meanwhile, there were 65,039 registered buyers as of December 18, 2022. GeM aims to enhance transparency, efficiency and speed in public procurement. The platform provides the tools of e-bidding, reverse e-auction and demand aggregation to facilitate the government users, achieve the best value for their money.