The Government e-Marketplace (GeM), the portal that meets the procurement needs of central and state government departments and PSUs, recorded a total transaction value of more than Rs 23,000 crore in FY2018-19, a four-fold increase from the previous year, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement. It also ended the fiscal with more than 2 lakh sellers and service providers - double the previous year - and saw 50% more traffic on its website. Notes on the GeM in 2018 There were more than 17 lakh transactions on the platform, which offered over 8.8 lakh products. More than 34,000 government organisations (central and state governments, and PSUs) were registered on the platform. 42% of transactions by volume were conducted with MSMEs. Buyers spanned 36 states and union territories (UTs); 24 states and UTs signed an MoU to adopt GeM as their core procurement portal. GeM was integrated with Aadhaar, UdyogAadhaar, Ministry of Corporate Affairs21 (MCA21), Public Financial Management System (PFMS), PAN, GSTN, Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA), Railways, and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)-empanelled rating agencies for a robust registration process. It signed MoUs with 12 banks for payment integration to facilitate a cashless, contactless and paperless payment system. It signed an MoU with the MSME Ministry, Common Service Centers (CSC) and industrial associations including CII, FICCI, and ASSOCHAM to facilitate training, capacity building and onboarding of manufactures and vendors. It was integrated with the Quality Council of India (QCI) to ensure the quality…
