Centre eases rules for buying scientific equipment, consumables by R&D institutes

In the wake of demands from researchers, the government has enhanced financial limits for the procurement of scientific instruments and consumables by various scientific institutions, including those pursuing research in the defence sector, and also allowed them to look beyond the GeM portal for making such purchases.

- STATE TIMES NEWS

The existing financial rules mandated procurement of equipment of less than Rs 200 crore only through the government e-marketplace (GeM) portal and from local producers to encourage the domestic manufacturing sector.

However, various scientists and researchers faced hindrances due to these rules as several high-end research equipment were not available on the GeM portal.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research are among the many institutions that will benefit from the changes in the general financial rules (GFR) that have removed the bottlenecks in conventional procurement, officials said.