Government e Marketplace

Government e Marketplace (GeM) is an online platform for public procurement in India. The initiative was launched on 9 August 2016, by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India with the objective to create an open and transparent procurement platform for government buyers. It was built in a record time of 5 months to facilitate the online procurement of goods and Services. The purchases through GeM by Government users have been authorized and made mandatory by the Ministry of Finance by adding a new Rule No. 149 in the General Financial Rules, 2017.
The platform is owned by GeM SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) which is a 100 percent Government-owned, non-profit company under the Ministry of Commerce and Industries, Government of India.
GeM is a contactless, paperless and cashless online marketplace that replaced the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D) in 2016. Since its inception, GeM has brought in the visibility and transparency in public procurement. The portal has transformed public procurement in India by driving its three pillars, namely, inclusion, usability and transparency and efficiency and cost savings. According to an independent assessment made by the World Bank, average savings for buyers in Government e Marketplace portal is about 9.75% on the median price. The Government of India has made it mandatory for sellers to display the 'country of origin' on products to be sold on GeM portal.
The present Chief Executive Officer (on additional charge) of Government e Marketplace is Shri L Satya Srinivas, an officer of the 1991 batch of the Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Indirect Taxes).
Government e Marketplace was launched in August 2016 to enable central and state governments and CPSEs for online procurement of goods and services. The initial version of GeM portal was developed and hosted by the erstwhile Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry with technical support of National E-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Currently, a Managed Service Provider (MSP) is responsible for enhancing and maintaining the GeM portal. For payment services, GeM has linked with numerous banks and the IT systems of significant buyers.
GeM's three key pillars — Efficient, Transparent, and Inclusiveness — ensure that business in the Government e Marketplace is quick and easy. It is Inclusive since it allows anyone and everyone to do business on GeM, Efficient for conducting business operations smoothly, and Transparent for fair business practices. In addition, the platform seeks to improve openness, effectiveness, and speed in public procurement. It offers a wide range of procurement methods, including direct purchase, electronic bidding, electronic reverse auction, and direct reverse auction. The digital platform enables economies of scale, efficient price discovery, and dissemination of best practices. According to Rule 149 of the General Financial Rules 2017, the procurement of goods and services by ministries, government agencies, and Public Sector Enterprises is now mandated to be done through the GeM portal. State Governments are also encouraged to purchase through GeM.
As of 10 February 2023 GeM INR 3.50 lakh Crores order value & in current Financial Year, GeM has already crossed 1.5 Lakh Crores of order value.
As of 10 February 2023, GeM has 66,663 Buyer Organisations and 58,93,283 Sellers & Service Providers out of which 8,77,528 are MSME Sellers & service providers. Further, it has more than 30,81,000 products in about 11,358 product categories, and it has 278 service categories.