Government e Marketplace (GeM) is working with the Rural Development Ministry, State Government Emporia and Development Commission Handicarfts to on board self-help groups (SHGs) and artisan clusters on GeM. This was announced by CEO GeM, Talleen Kumar in New Delhi yesterday. The products will be categorized as Emporium Products where the unique items produced by India’s artisans will be available on GeM. Work is underway to factor in technical solutions so that working capital and traceability of the items is available to buyers and sellers on the platform.
More than 3000 startups are already registered on GeM and they have received orders amounting to Rs. 522 crore till date. More than 58,101 MSMEs are registered on platform and 50% of the entire transactional value on GeM is from MSMEs.
CEO GeM informed that the Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) onGeM portal has crossed Rs. 36,000 crores. Nearly 40 thousand buyer organisations are registered on this procurement portal. There are over 2.95 lakh sellers/service providers on GeM. Average time taken for seller registration has come down from 20 days to 2 days. Given the shorter procurement cycles and competitive prices, Government entities in general and CPSUs in particular are increasingly procuring from GeM.
CEO GeM also outlined some of the initiatives that are underway:
- Designing and implementation of a Flexible Bid Document builder with Best Practices
- Faster and more accurate creation of categories/ services
- Onboarding Works Contract and project buying
- Use of AI, ML to sanitize catalogue of products and services
- UI/UX improvement for enhancing the experience of buyers and sellers
- Pre-despatch inspection services for buyers
- Feedback on quality from buyers and ensuring quality in public procurement
- A contextual AI/ ML/ Deep Learning driven virtual assistant so that the experience of buyers and sellers is enhanced
- Moving towards a framework for ensuring payment within a guaranteed timeframe
- Opening up GeM for Government contractors and private entities for bulk buying
- GeM is working on a robust online seller and buyer rating mechanisms which will allow sellers to avail working capital loans where the cost of capital is linked to the performance and rating of sellers. This will also help buyers to procure from highly rated sellers in critical areas of procurement.
- Setting up of GeMOrganisational and Transformation Team (GOTT) in the buyer organizations on an outcome based self-sustenance model to realign the procurement process in the organization and leverage the marketplace procurement platform to its fullest potential
