The government e-marketplace (GeM) will launch fresh initiatives to woo states and the public-sector units (PSUs) under them to more than double their purchases of goods and services through the portal to breach the Rs 60,000-crore mark in FY23, GeM chief executive PK Singh told FE.

State governments and their PSUs bought goods and services worth Rs 31,175 crore through GeM in FY22, having accounted for roughly a third of the total procurements of more than Rs 1 trillion on the portal.

“While the procurement by states and their PSUs hit a record in FY22, there is still a huge scope for them to go further. Central government departments and CPSEs are already procuring through GeM in a big way,” Singh said.

GeM officials have drawn up a list of 11 key states for targeted interventions in FY23 to encourage them to ramp up their purchases through the portal. These states are Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Chhattisgrah, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat. A consultant will be appointed to help out six of them and GeM officials will assist the other five that may need hand-holding, Singh said.

Some state governments are reluctant to purchase via GeM in a big way because they say their local suppliers can potentially lose out to better competitors from other states. However, they should also realise that many of their sellers are also getting the opportunities to supply to their neighbouring states through GeM, Singh said.

Currently, while all states are tapping the GeM portal, their levels of purchases vary sharply. Uttar Pradesh led the pack of states, with purchases of Rs 11,275 crore in FY22, or more than a third of the total procurement by all states and related entities. This was followed by Gujarat (procurement of Rs 3,487 crore), Maharashtra (Rs 2,259 crore), Madhya Pradesh (Rs 1,968 crore), Bihar (Rs 1,494 crore) and Odisha (Rs 1,455 crore).

Few states are not buying much because procurement by states through the GeM portal is voluntary, while it has been made mandatory for central government ministries/departments and PSUs under them. More importantly, as industry executives have often said, states that seek to adopt better transparency in its public procurement will choose the portal for transactions.

Total procurement through the GeM portal surged a record Rs 1 trillion in FY22, having a recorded a 160% jump over the previous year. In fact, before the latest feat, procurement through the portal had breached the Rs 1-trillion mark in as many as four-and-a-half years. Singh exuded confidence procurement via GeM will exceed Rs 1.5 trillion in the current fiscal.

The GeM portal was launched in August 2016, as the Centre wanted to improve transparency in purchases of various goods and services by all the central government ministries, departments and public-sector firms and state governments, apart from providing a new-age platform for official procurement. Sellers range from small business to large companies.

There are no Chinese products sold on the portal, Singh added. Procurement by central public sector enterprises alone jumped many folds to about Rs 43,000 crore in FY22. The GeM portal offers a wide range of products–from office stationery and vehicles to computers and office furniture.

Services like transportation, logistics and waste management are also provided through sellers on the portal.