Bengaluru- 19-9-2022“ 
Government e Marketplace (GeM), the National Public Procurement Portal“of the country is an end-to-end online Marketplace for the procurement of goods“and services. It was launched on August 9, 2016, as part of the vision of the“Hon’ble Prime Minister. GeM is known for redefining public procurement and has“been able to bring about radical changes in the way procurement was done by“Government buyers and public sector undertakings. GeM is contactless, paperless,“and cashless and stands on three pillars viz. efficiency, transparency, and“inclusivity“““The buyer base of GeM comprises all Central and State Government“departments, Cooperative societies, and public sector undertakings. The“heterogeneous nature of GeM?s seller base clearly reflects on the founding pillar of“„inclusivity?” said Shri S G Raveendra, Addl. Director General, Press Information“Bureau (PIB) Bengaluru addressing the gathering during a “Seller Samvad”“organized by Government e marketplace (GeM) in Bengaluru today.“Some of the details about GeM is that it has surpassed the milestone of INR“1 Lakh Crore of procurement value, in a single fiscal year in FY 21-22.“Cumulatively, GeM has facilitated over 1 Crore transactions valued at over INR“2.82 Lakh Crore. This has only been possible with the support of all stakeholders“including buyers and sellers across the country There are over 2,82,000 sellers and“service providers registered on GeM from Karnataka.““Starting from the big companies and conglomerates, the seller base includes“women entrepreneurs, Self Help Groups, and MSME sellers from all over the“country. Moreover, special provisions have also been created on the GeM portal to“ensure a seamless onboarding experience for MSMEs and SHGs. It is worth“mentioning that 61 thousand registered Government buyers and 48.6 lakh sellers“and service providers speak for the size and scale of GeM operations.““Since its inception, GeM has been steadily growing with new product and“service categories being added constantly. Currently, there are about 300 service“categories and over 10000+ product categories available on GeM. These categories“feature around 44 lakhs catalogues of product and service offerings. Further, GeM“is an evolving platform and relentlessly works towards adding new features and functionalities to the portal. In line with this principle, approximately 2000 minor and 460+ major functionalities have been introduced in the last 24 months““With this as a thought, it is felt that GeM has been able to impact a large set“of sellers as stakeholders in India?s public procurement ecosystem. Accordingly, a“pan-India „Seller Samvad? has been planned to interact with the GeM sellers and to“make them aware about the new GeM features and functionalities that further“make it conducive for them to operate on the portal. During the Samvad, many“sellers spoke about their experiences.“ Anagh Dutt, Director, States & Union Territories, GeM, Ministry of“Commerce & Industry GoI, attended the samvad and Sellers from different parts“of the state, including Women entrepreneurs, MSEs and start-ups participated also“shared their success stories on GeM with the participants.
