The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) system has resulted in a 10% savings in public procurement costs in five years, but has still tapped only 5% of India’s total government purchases of about ₹20 lakh crore a year, Commerce Secretary B.V.R. Subrahmanyam said on Monday.
“Procurement traditionally was riddled with allegations of corruption, and governments have been infamous for very slow procurement processes,” he said.
“The GeM has given us more bang for the buck, with a savings of ₹10,000 crore in the cumulative procurements of ₹1 lakh crore facilitated through the portal in five years, and improved the speed of procurement,” he added.
The Commerce Secretary suggested that the online marketplace can aggregate demand from multiple entities for similar products, and build in the preferences provided by State governments to small enterprises.
GeM CEO P.K. Singh, speaking at CII’s national conclave on public procurement, said that 56% of the order value processed through the portal has been delivered by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), with seven lakh small firms on board.
