Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has proposed that transaction charges for the GeM (Government e-Market) platform be reduced and capped to attract more traders.
Goyal also cautioned officials against cartelisation and collusion on GeM and asked them to stay alert, at a review of the functioning of GeM on Wednesday.
“The Minister asked the officials to make GeM more affordable and further increase the volume of business,” according to an official release.
Seeking more transparency in the system, Goyal said that operations should be audited regularly to ensure that all technical and financial aspects of GeM stay strong all the time. He asked officials to make GeM more user and commerce-friendly.
GeM is a government-owned company set up under the aegis of the Department of Commerce providing an online platform for procurement of goods and services by Central and State government organisations.
Promoting AI
The Minister also sought to promote the use of AI (artificial intelligence) in the operations of GeM and asked the tean to use it for simplification of the system. “He said that as volume of operations grow, AI would be needed to bring most appropriate buyers and sellers together for transactions. Use of AI would also act as a watch dog against business malpractices like collusion and cartelisation which often sneak in online business platforms,” the release said.
The pilot project to integrate GeM with the Indian Railways E-Procurement System (IREPS) will be launched by next month while the process of integrating GeM with India Post and Ministry of Panchayati Raj is in progress, the GeM officials apprised the Minister.
Goyal asked GeM authorities to wrap-up the pending audit by the Directorate of Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification.