Worth of goods bought through India’s e-procurement portal rockets to $36bn

India’s Government e-Marketplace (GeM) platform has handled more than 1.5 lakh crore ($18bn) worth of government procurement contracts over the first seven months of the last financial year.

An upsurge in purchasing activities by diverse ministries and departments means the digital procurement platform has dramatically increased its reach since July 2022 – with the last seven months accounting for nearly 50% of the total $36bn it has handled since its launch in 2016.

The Indian government is certain it could handle more than two lakh crores ($24bn) of contracts in the next financial year.

CEO of GeM, P K Singh, said he believed the platform has huge potential to expand, given the spend of state and central government organisations.

In the 12 months to 1 February 1 2023 GeM has processed more than 29m products and around 250,000 services and handles transactions for 66,000 government buying organisations.

Singh said “We need to tap states… we are continuously in discussions with them. There are huge benefits to onboard (on) the platform.”

He said central government procurement accounted for about 50% of all purchases taking place via the platform.

The Indian government claimed that studies had shown that users of the platform would save at least 10% on purchases.

“GeM has revolutionised the ecosystem of public procurement in the country through technology, the digitisation of processes, the digital integration of all stakeholders, and the use of analytics,” said the Ministry of Commerce.

“GeM is an example of how digital platforms created with a strategic and clear intent to reinvigorate and reimagine legacy processes can bring about lasting change for the nation.” It added.