The Government-e-Marketplace (GeM) organised an interaction on Wednesday to give sellers an opportunity to share their experiences with the platform.
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Since its launch on August 9, 2016, this end-to-end online portal for procurement of goods and services has handled over one crore transactions, amounting to over ₹3 lakh crore worth of goods. Vijayendra Pandian, Commissioner, Treasuries and Accounts and GeM’s nodal officer for Tamil Nadu, said the portal had experienced mammoth growth in six years and became an indispensable platform for the government.
C. Murugan, managing director, EverWin Security Services, argued that GeM’s process was not foolproof. “Guidelines on manpower and minimum wages are not being followed as the power lies with the buyer,” he said, citing the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act of 1970 to explain that the government was required to pay its employees even on government closed holidays, something it was not doing, according to him.
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Another service provider questioned the need to pay to print their own purchase order.
Platform thanked
Other sellers thanked GeM for expanding their business and giving them wider portfolios. S. Sudhakar, Managing Director, Turbo Engineers, attributed safety of transport process and its pan-India presence to GeM. “For us, the cost of marketing is almost zero because of this efficient platform,” he said.
“GeM is like Amazon but exclusively for the government”, explained A.V. Muralidharan, Dy. Chief Executive Officer, GeM. Sellers and buyers can visit the training module on the website to clarify all platform-related questions. MSE’s in Tamil Nadu have received a total of 1,95,528 orders generating ₹7,402.98 crore since GeM’s inception. For the same period, transactions by the State government departments amount to ₹1,108 crores While GeM is mandatory for all Central government organisations, not all State governments have made this move.