‘India’s govt procurement portal to be world’s largest by end-FY25’

New Delhi: India’s government procurement portal Government e Marketplace (GeM), which has facilitated orders worth over Rs 9.21 lakh crore since its inception in 2016, is likely to become the largest government procurement platform in the world surpassing South Korea's KONEPS (Korea ON-line E-Procurement System) by the end of the current financial year, senior official said on Thursday.

Procurement of goods and services through GeM portal surged by 136 per cent to Rs 1.24 lakh crore in the first quarter of 2024-25. During the fiscal ended March 2024, the GeM portal facilitated government procurements worth Rs 4.03 lakh crore, nearly double of the previous year.

GeM Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Prashant Kumar Singh said growth in the first quarter of 2024-25 was led by services. Gross merchandise value (GMV) of services procured through GeM portal surged to Rs 80,502 crore in April-June quarter from Rs 18,557 crore recorded in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Singh said the GeM platform would soon have a feature to auction work contracts like construction of roads and buildings. “We will send the proposal to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry,” he said. GeM is a 100 per cent government owned platform to facilitate online procurement of common use goods and services by the government and the government-run entities including the central and state public undertakings, autonomous institutions and local bodies.

At present, the procurements facilitated through the GeM portal are goods and services. Addition of work contract is likely to significantly boost the GMV facilitated through the portal.

Korea ON-line E-Procurement System (KONEPS), which is currently the largest government procurement platform in the world, facilitates procurement of goods and services as well as work contracts.

Elaborating on GeM’s April-June quarter performance, Singh said, procurement by Central Ministries including CPSEs surpassed Rs 1 Lakh crore in the first quarter of the current financial year against Rs 42,500 crore recorded in the corresponding period of last year. Of this Rs 1 Lakh crore GMV by the central government entities, Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) share accounted for more than Rs 91,000 crore.

“As key participants, Central bodies have continued to drive procurement reforms, reaffirming their commitment to optimising resource allocation for national development,” GeM CEO said.

In a bid to boost its reach to the last mile sellers and facilitate procurements, especially at block and Panchayat levels, GeM plans to roll out ‘GeM Sahayak’ initiative. Under this initiative six to seven thousand certified accredited trainers would be prepared to support GeM sellers and buyers in the online procurement process.