1 Lakh crore GMV — A Great Achievement for GeM in the financial year 2021–22
Prashant Kumar Singh, CEO of Government e-Marketplace (GeM), stated that the last financial year’s annual e-procurement was Rs 1 lakh crore, with the figure expected to rise to Rs 1.5 lakh crore in 2022–23. He added that, the GeM’s cumulative Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) has crossed Rs 1 lakh crore since its start in August 9, 2016. GeM’s gross merchandise value (GMV) in the current financial year topped Rs 1 lakh crore in less than a year. Compared to the previous financial year, this marks a 160 percent increase.
GeM is an online public procurement platform. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced it on August 9, 2016. Providing a transparent platform for e-procurement was the aim behind it.
Mr. Singh said that the platform had transformed public procurement in India by focusing on inclusivity, usability, and openness, as well as efficiency and cost-cutting. In the current fiscal year, the number of orders has topped 31.5 lakh, an increase of 22%. GeM has grown to become one of the world’s largest government e-procurement platforms in just five years. CPSEs bought nearly Rs 43,000 crore (43 percent of total GMV) on GeM, representing a 508 percent increase over the previous fiscal year. He also stated that states remained a key stakeholder, contributing approximately 30% of overall GMV.
GeM has taken several initiatives to onboard items from Self-Help Groups (SHGs), tribal groups, craftsmen, weavers, and MSMEs. Highlighting the role it has played in bringing inclusion in government procurement. MSME units have accounted for 57 percent of total business on GeM, with female entrepreneurs accounting for over 6%. The number of female merchants and businesses on GeM has increased sixfold in the last year.
Compared to the previous fiscal year, there has been a 15% rise in buyer onboarding and a 187 percent increase in seller onboarding. And the number of Services has increased by 44 percent, contributing 25 percent to total GMV (Rs 25,000 crore).
According to the Economic Survey 2021–22, cost comparison of multiple commodities on GeM with those on famous online platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart suggested that GeM pricing were 9.5 percent lower. In comparison to other platforms, the GeM portal was cheaper for 10 of the 22 items in the survey.
