Permission To Sell Products On The Government-e-Marketplace Platform:
The Union Cabinet has cleared up a proposal allowing cooperatives to sell products on the Government-e-Marketplace (GeM) platform.
- The cooperatives may however be charged a transaction fee to cover the incremental costs.
- The validated list of cooperatives to be onboarded on the GeM – for pilot as well as subsequent scale up – will be decided by the Ministry of Cooperation in consultation with the GeM SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle).
- GeM is a one-stop National Public Procurement Portal to facilitate online procurement of common use Goods & Services required by various Central and State Government Departments/Organisations/Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs).
- The procurement of goods and services by Ministries and the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) is mandatory for goods and services available on GeM.
- It also provides the tools of e-bidding and reverse e-auction to facilitate the government users achieve the best value for their money.
- At present, GeM has more than 30 lakh products, over Rs. 10 lakh crores worth of transactions have happened so far at the portal.
- It was launched in 2016 to bring transparency and efficiency in the government buying process.
- Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
- Country of Origin Mandatory: GeM has made it mandatory for sellers to enter the Country of Origin while registering all new products on GeM.
- This has been enabled on the portal so that the buyers can choose to buy only those products that meet the minimum 50% local content criteria.
