Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal emphasises on adding more participants to the GeM portal
Interacting with the GeM officers, the minister also said that integration of the platform with the railway e-procurement system towards the unified procurement system for buyers should be done expeditiously.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday called upon Government e-Marketplace (GeM) to expand its scope and include more participants for public procurement of products and services.
Interacting with the GeM officers, the minister also said that integration of the platform with the railway e-procurement system towards the unified procurement system for buyers should be done expeditiously.
This will usher in a lot of savings for the public exchequer and pave the way for big-ticket procurements by the petroleum and steel sectors, he added.
The pilot bidding of railways buyers through integrated systems is expected to commence by August-end.
About Rs 50,000 crore worth of annual procurement may be done by the Railways on GeM post the integration.
Further, the minister said the GeM portal should be cautious against 'cartelisation' by the sellers.
GeM's order value reached Rs 38,620 crore in 2020-21. There are over 52,000 buyers and over 18.75 lakh sellers registered on the portal, dealing in 16,332 product catalogues and 187 service catalogues.
The portal was launched in August 2016 for the online purchase of goods and services by all the central government ministries and departments as well as states.
The portal provides wide-ranging products — from office stationery to vehicles. Automobiles, computers, and office furniture are currently the top product categories.
Services, including transportation, logistics, waste management, webcasting and analytical, among others, are also listed on the portal.
Currently, government departments, ministries, public sector units, state governments, and Central Armed Police Forces are allowed to carry out transactions through this portal.
Edited by Kanishk Singh