The government’s public procurement portal Government e-Marketplace (GeM) on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Sikkim government to increase the adoption of the portal among the departments of the state government for the purchase of goods and services. With the signing of the latest MoU, GeM said it has achieved its coverage of all the states and union territories of the country.
As of Oct 23, 2024, buyers from the Sikkim government have made procurement worth Rs 90 crore, the commerce ministry said in a statement. Under the MoU, GeM will facilitate state buyers’ departments and organisations by providing focused training, handholding, capacity-building programs, etc.
Currently, 3,078 Sikkim-based sellers are on the GeM portal, of which 2,720 sellers are registered as micro sellers.
“Through the GeM portal, Sikkim-based sellers have access to bids floated by buying entities from the central government, Sikkim state, other state governments, CPSE, etc. and have served orders worth Rs 182 crore,” the ministry said.
GeM had recorded procurement of goods and services worth over Rs 4 lakh crore in FY23. Since its inception in August 2016, the marketplace has crossed gross merchandise value (GMV) or order value of Rs 10 lakh crore.
Recently, the portal had reduced the transaction charges levied on sellers. In a revenue policy document on August 9, 2024, the portal had announced zero per cent transaction charges for all orders valued up to Rs 10 lakh from the earlier limit of Rs 5 lakh. The revised charges have been effective from August 9.
GeM is currently the second-largest public procurement portal in the world and is expected to become the largest by the end of the current financial year, overtaking Korea’s KONEPS.