Government e-Market, the online platform for public procurement of goods and services, is in the process of finalising its plan to enable work contracts for construction and building projects to be bid for through the platform, and will soon present it to the Department of Commerce for its approval, GeM CEO Prashant Kumar Singh said.
The proposal, which will require the Union Cabinet’s nod, is likely to be part of the new government’s 100-day programme. “We have asked for approval on GeM works contracts... within 100 days. The Commerce Department will seek the Union Cabinet’s approval,” Prashant Kumar Singh, CEO, GeM, said at a press briefing on Thursday.
GeM is holding stakeholder consultations before finalising its proposal and is in touch with buyers and construction agencies for inputs.
Total procurement of goods and services through GeM crossed ₹1.24 lakh crore in first quarter of 2024-25 posting a quarter-on-quarter growth of 136 per cent over last year’s ₹52,607 crore, Singh said. If the pace is maintained, GeM will become the world’s largest platform by the end of the fiscal, surpassing South Korea’s KONEPS, he added.
Procurement by Central Ministries including CPSEs surpassed ₹1 lakh crore milestone in this period with Ministries of Coal, Defence and Petroleum and Gas emerging as the top procurers in this quarter, per an official statement. Of this ₹1 lakh crore GMV, CPSEs share accounted for more than ₹91,000 crore.
To reach out to the last mile sellers, GeM is planning to roll out ‘GeM SAHAYAK’ programme which will create a pan India network of 6,000-7,000 trained and certified accredited trainers who would then offer their services to potential and existing GeM sellers in navigating on GeM and enhancing business opportunities. “Buyers too will benefit from the services of these SAHAYAKS in terms of creation of bids and other value-added services,” the statement added.
Generative AI
GeM is also set to deploy its generative AI-based chatbot called “GeMAI” in the coming quarter to provide solutions based on a nuanced analysis of queries raised by buyers and sellers through various complaint and feedback mechanisms.
A comprehensive monitoring tool is also planned to be used on GeM to provide a unified 360-degree view on the overall performance of the platform, the statement noted. “A project to geo-tag addresses of GeM users is underway. The project will provide geography-based visualisation of transactions such as MSEs, ODOP sales and product concentrations,” it said.