Sh. Sunil Barthwal, Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry and Chairperson & Nominee Director, GeM. Sh. Alkesh Kumar Sharma,Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT, Government of India & Nominee Director, GeM. Shri Mihir KumarChief Executive Officer, GeM. Sh. Sanjay PrasadAdditional Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, Government of India & Nominee Director, GeM. Sh. Amitabh Kumar,Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India & Nominee Director, GeM.
Launched
9August 2016;8 years ago(2016-08-09) New Delhi, India
Government e Marketplace (GeM) is an online platform for public procurement in India.[1] The initiative was launched on 9 August 2016, by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India with the objective to create an open and transparent procurement platform for government buyers.[2] It was built in a record time of 5 months to facilitate the online procurement of goods and Services. The purchases through GeM by Government users have been authorized and made mandatory by the Ministry of Finance by adding a new Rule No. 149 in the General Financial Rules, 2017.[3]
GeM is a contactless, paperless and cashless online marketplace that replaced the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D) in 2016.[5][6] Since its inception, GeM has brought in the visibility and transparency in public procurement.[1] The portal has transformed public procurement in India[1] by driving its three pillars, namely, inclusion, usability and transparency and efficiency and cost savings.[7] According to an independent assessment made by the World Bank, average savings for buyers in Government e Marketplace portal is about 9.75% on the median price.[8] The Government of India has made it mandatory for sellers to display the 'country of origin' on products to be sold on GeM portal.[9]
The present Chief Executive Officer of Government e Marketplace is Shri Mihir Kumar, a distinguished officer of the 1996 batch of the Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS).
History
Government e Marketplace was launched in August 2016 to enable central and state governments and CPSEs for online procurement of goods and services.[10][11] The initial version of GeM portal was developed and hosted by the erstwhile Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry with technical support of National E-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.[12] Currently, a Managed Service Provider (MSP) is responsible for enhancing and maintaining the GeM portal. For payment services, GeM has linked with numerous banks and the IT systems of significant buyers.[13][14][15]
Objective
GeM's three key pillars — Efficient, Transparent, and Inclusiveness — ensure that business in the Government e Marketplace is quick and easy. It is Inclusive since it allows anyone and everyone to do business on GeM, Efficient for conducting business operations smoothly, and Transparent for fair business practices. In addition, the platform seeks to improve openness, effectiveness, and speed in public procurement. It offers a wide range of procurement methods, including direct purchase, electronic bidding, electronic reverse auction, and direct reverse auction. The digital platform enables economies of scale, efficient price discovery, and dissemination of best practices.[16] According to Rule 149 of the General Financial Rules 2017, the procurement of goods and services by ministries, government agencies, and Public Sector Enterprises is now mandated to be done through the GeM portal. State Governments are also encouraged to purchase through GeM.[17][18]
Initiatives
The Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmer's Welfare Shri Parshottam Rupala launched the dedicated web page for Bamboo products and quality planting materials on the GeM portal in June 2021. The page is referred to as 'The Green Gold Collection'.[19][20]
In order to help the proprietors, meet with large-scale orders, GeM launched a Google Playstore App GeM SAHAY in June 2021 that helps the proprietors in getting loans against their purchase orders.[21]
GeM launched a dedicated page for COVID19 products in June 2021 that helped in meeting with emergency requirements of oxygen cylinders, concentrators, kits etc.[24]
GeM as a mark of inclusivity, its third pillar, opened the portal for onboarding specially abled sellers under its initiative 'Divyangjan entrepreneurs' in June 2021.[25]
The Unified Procurement System for goods and services was launched in October 2020 with the integration of the Central Public Procurement Portal (CPPP) with GeM and the functionalities of the "GeM Availability Report and Past Transaction Summary" and "custom bids".[26]
In December 2019, GeM launched a two-month-long national outreach program called GeM Samvaad to facilitate the onboarding of sellers while catering to specific requirements and procurement needs of buyers.[27][28]
GeM Start-up Runway was launched to facilitate startups in selling innovative products and services to government users in April 2019.[29]
In February 2019, GeM started an initiative called SWAYATT to promote Startups, Women and Youth Advantage through eTransactions on the Government e Marketplace portal. It was launched by Suresh Prabhu, the Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation.[30]
On 14 January 2019, the Union Government launched an initiative called 'Womaniya on Government e Marketplace' that enables women entrepreneurs and Women Self-Help Groups to sell handicrafts, handloom, and accessories directly to Government departments.[31]
The National Mission on GeM (NMG) was launched on 5 September 2018, by Suresh Prabhu, the Commerce and Industry Minister to accelerate the adoption and use of GeM by major central ministries, states, UTs and their agencies, including CPSUs, PSUs, local bodies.[32]
Financials
As of 1st May, 2025, GeM has crossed ₹13.60 Lakh Crore in GMV with a total order volume of more than 2.86 Crore. The portal has over 1.64 Lakh Buyer Organisations and over 23 Lakh Sellers & Service Providers, of which more than 10.42 Lakhs are MSE Sellers & Service Providers and 30,866 are Startup Suppliers. Further, it has more than 10,900 Product Categories and 330 Service Categories. [33][34]
Statistics
As of 1st May, 2025, GeM has crossed ₹13.60 Lakh Crore in GMV with a total order volume of more than 2.86 Crore. The portal has over 1.64 Lakh Buyer Organisations and over 23 Lakh Sellers & Service Providers, of which more than 10.42 Lakhs are MSE Sellers & Service Providers and 30,866 are Startup Suppliers. Furthermore, it has more than 10,900 Product Categories and 330 Service Categories.[33]
Awards and recognition
GeM won the Gold Award for "Best Use of AI/ML, Data Analytics and Emerging Technologies in Public Services" at the prestigious ET Government DigiTechAwards 2025.[35]
GeM was recognised as “Procurement Organisation of the Year, for “Excellence in Procurement Transformation” and “Excellence in Public Procurement” by the Institute for Supply Management – India at the 8th Annual ISM –India Conference and CPO Awards 2023.
Chartered Institute for Procurement and Supply (CIPS) has awarded GeM as the winner under the 'Best use of digital technology' category at its Excellence in Procurement awards, 2021[citation needed]
Winner of the Dun & Bradstreet India's Top PSUs Awards, 2021 in the category of "E-Governance Solutions for Public Procurement"[citation needed]
The company won The HinduBusiness Line Changemaker Award for Digital Transformation in March 2020.[1]
The platform was also nominated for the United Nations' ITU WSIS Prize.[29]
l - liquidated Information updated as of January, 2020 by Department of Public Enterprises • See alsoPublic sector banks in India
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