GeM has transformed public procurement

The user-friendly platform has helped to weed out corruption and provide business opportunities to startups, MSMEs, women and businesses in small towns

- Piyush Goyal

The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has rapidly emerged as a world leader in providing a transparent, inclusive and efficient platform for public procurement. It connects more than 1.6 lakh government buyers with 23 lakh sellers and service providers, becoming a key engine of Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi's vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.

In nine years since PM Modi launched the transformative digital initiative, GeM has revolutionised the way government buys goods and services by weeding out corruption and giving business opportunities to startups, MSMEs, women and businesses in small towns.

The user-friendly platform is a true gem that has replaced the notorious directorate general of supplies and disposals, which had opaque and uncompetitive systems that gave an unfair advantage to a privileged few. Befittingly, the commerce and industry ministry's new office, Vanijya Bhawan, has been built on land once occupied by this obsolete body.

Since its inception in 2016, orders worth more than ₹13.4 lakh crore have been transacted on the GeM portal. Public procurement via the platform rose to a record ₹5.43 lakh crore in 2024-25. GeM aims to raise its annual business to ₹7 lakh crore in the current fiscal. GeM has undoubtedly emerged as a technological behemoth in the public procurement landscape. The magnitude of business transacted is likely to make it the world's largest public procurement portal, surpassing well-established institutions like South Korea's KONEPS, in the near future.