Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: Government e-Marketplace (GeM), the public procurement platform of the Government of India, is organising buyer-seller workshops across all 75 districts of the state Uttar Pradesh starting today till August 31st, 2023.
The workshop will provide the MSME sellers with the proper knowledge and know-how about the functioning of the public procurement platform and resolve their queries and doubts, if any.
The rationale behind the workshops is to disseminate information about the potential of GeM to the sellers in the remotest areas of UP.
The sessions will train and guide sellers on the registration, compliance, and online selling process. These will not be just theoretical sessions but hands-on assistance by experts from GeM will also be available. Networking opportunities for businesses to connect with other potential participants will also be included.
Under the Public Procurement Policy for Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs), every Central ministry/department/PSU has an annual target of 25 per cent procurement from micro and small enterprises. Out of this, a sub-target of four per cent and three per cent (out of the 25 per cent) should come from MSEs owned by the SC/ST entrepreneurs and women respectively.
Launched in August 2016, the government’s e-commerce marketplace GeM enables MSMEs to sell directly to government departments and public sector enterprises. Currently, 32 lakh products and 2.53 lakh services are available for procurement on the platform. To date, 1.54 crore orders worth Rs 4.30 lakh crore have been processed by the GeM portal.
In the year 2022-23, the government has spent Rs 60,432 crore on procurement from MSEs under the Public Procurement Policy, 42 per cent more than the set target of Rs 42,705 crore. According to the data shared by Anupriya Patel, minister of state in the commerce ministry, in the Lok Sabha on March 29 in a written reply to a question, MSMEs sold goods worth Rs 422.02 crore in FY17, Rs 5,876.53 crore in FY18, Rs 17,461.61 crore in FY19, Rs 22,916 crore in FY20 and Rs 38,570 crore in FY21.