Micro & small enterprises corner 55% of total orders placed on GeM portal

Posted on by

A senior government official said micro and small enterprises (MSEs) accounted for more than 55 percent of the total orders placed on the GeM public procurement platform since the 2020-2021 fiscal year.

The Government e-Market (GeM) portal was launched on August 9, 2016, for the online purchase of goods and services by all central government ministries and departments. GeM CEO PK Singh said the public procurement policy for small and micro enterprises mandates 25 per cent purchase of goods and services from these units and 3 per cent from women-owned SMEs.

“In GeM, small and micro enterprises took 55.2 per cent (Rs. 1,41,887 crores) of the total order value (Rs. 2,57,263 crores) and women-owned SMEs took 8 per cent (Rs. 11,373 crores). of MSME orders since fiscal year 2020-21 to date. The numbers reflect inclusiveness in GeM,” Singh told PTI.

Purchases of goods and services from the government’s GeM portal have crossed ₹ 1-lakh crore so far due to the increase in procurement activities by various ministries and departments. The Ministry of Commerce is in the process of awarding a project to modernize 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. The portal provides a wide range of products from office stationery to vehicles. Cars, computers and office furniture are currently the most important product categories. Services, including transportation, logistics, waste management, web casting and analysis, are listed in the portal.