open view web desk

The National Mission on GeM (NMG) was launched on 5th September 2018 till 17th October 2018. The objective of the Mission was to accelerate the adoption and use of Procurement by Major Central Ministries, States and UTs and their agencies (including CPSUs/PSUs, Local Bodies) on the GeM platform. The objectives of the NMG were to:

• Promote inclusiveness by catapulting various categories of sellers and service providers
• Highlight and communicate ‘value add’ by way of transparency and efficiency in public procurement, including corruption free governance.
• Achieve cashless, contactless and paperless transaction, in line with Digital India objectives.
• Increase overall efficiency leading to significant cost saving on government expenditure in Procurement.
• Maximizing ease in availability of all types of products and services bought by Government buyers.

During the mission, 315 events and training programs conducted across 31 states in which there were 22,838 participants. For central Ministries and CPSUs 106 events were conducted in which there were 5,990 participants. In addition to this, there were 18 theme based events organized at National Level covering critical areas of intervention like GeM design and architecture, localization, quality assurance, legal frameworks GeM payments, credit facility, OEMS, education, health and power in which there were 2,222 participants.

The portal was launched on 9th August 2016 as a pilot and gradually scaled up. During the last 2 years and 4 months (till 2nd December 2018),

• Number of orders placed-1,015,519
• Value of orders placed – Rs. 14,959 Crore

GeM has brought transparency, efficiency, and inclusiveness in public procurement. It has reduced the time of procurements, reduced the process and enabled ease of doing business for both buyers and vendors. There is huge savings in the cost of procurement, ranging from a minimum of 10% to 45% in different categories. The average saving based on the MRP/Listed price is about 28%.

This information was given by the Minister of State of Commerce and Industry, C. R. Chaudhary, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha yesterday.