NEW DELHI, June 8: The public procurement portal GeM is taking a host of steps to onboard products of self-help groups (SHGs), tribal communities, craftsmen, weavers, and MSMEs with a view to making the platform more inclusive, a senior government official said on Monday.
The team of Government e-marketplace (GeM) is in consultation with the ministry of textiles to pull data of 21 lakh weavers and 18 lakh craftsmen for onboarding on the platform.
Similarly, they are in discussions with the and MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) ministry to onboard 92 lakh such units, GeM Chief Executive Officer Talleen Kumar said.
“The vision expounded by the Prime Minister for GeM is to drive the three pillars of inclusivity; efficiency with attendant cost savings; and transparency along with more and more usability. This is reflective of an appetite to reimagine the status quo and usher in structural reforms through technology.
“The GeM platform is an example of how digital platforms created with a strategic, clear-minded intent to reinvigorate and reimagine legacy processes can bring about lasting change for the nation and for the underserved,” Kumar told PTI.
He said so far as inclusivity on the platform is concerned, about 49 per cent of the orders worth Rs 10,000 or less have been supplied by 25,000 sellers in 2019-2020.
So, over 1,000 SHGs have been registered through paperless, automatic and instant integration with the database of the Ministry of Rural Development and over 700 products have been uploaded. Similarly, over 5,000 products have been uploaded across 48 different categories by the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation (TRIFED).
Besides different government departments and agencies, schools such as Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Kendriya Vidyalaya and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti have purchased goods worth Rs 535 crore so far.
Kumar informed the share of MSMEs, women entrepreneurs and startups in all procurement in 2019-20 has shot up to 69 per cent.
Citing a report of the World Bank, Kumar said 238 sellers, who have responded to a questionnaire, expressed a positive perception about GeM for trust and transparency.
GeM, launched by the commerce ministry in August 2016, is the national public procurement portal for an online, end-to-end marketplace for open, efficient and transparent procurement of goods and services by central and state government organisations.
It has addressed multiple challenges in public procurement such as limitations and inefficiencies in procurement systems, time-consuming processes and adherence to multiple procurement guidelines through a marketplace model.
The number of product categories has increased to 6,399 from 3,486 a year ago and the number of service categories too have jumped from 75 to 121 at present. Similarly, the number of buyers has increased from 35,467 to 44,829 and the number of sellers has gone up from 2.29 lakhs to 3.81 lakhs.
The cumulative gross merchandise value too has increased from Rs 30,031 crore to Rs 52,767 crore at present.
On the advanced version of the platform which is on the anvil, he said implementation of an advanced technology roadmap to bridge gaps in features and functionalities and to improve usability and transparency on the platform is an integral part of GeM 4.0.
The new version will encourage wider participation by sellers and its enhanced adoption by Indian vendors and will also allow sellers to diversify their businesses, he added.
Further, he said that for the first time, the platform can accurately provide information as to whether timely payments are being made to suppliers including MSMEs and startups.
“We are now moving towards deemed acceptance as timely payments to suppliers is a must for the successful development of a strong buyer-supplier ecosystem in an e-marketplace,” he added.
The new features of GeM 4.0 include item wise consignee wise bidding, demand aggregation, price variation clauses, installation, testing, staggered delivery, timely payments to sellers, facility of publishing bids for goods and services on GeM in case of non-availability or partial availability of products and services and one-time caution money deposit for sellers for purchase of up to Rs 5 lakh will be implemented. (PTI)
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