Government e-market (GeM) portal

Context

Public procurement of goods and services from the national procurement portal Gem has crossed 1 lakh crore during this fiscal year. It is also being estimated that the procurement value may cross1.5 lakh crore in the next fiscal year.

Gem portal

• This Gem portal was launched on August 9, 2016 by the ministry of commerce and industry replacing the Directorate General of Supplies and disposal.
• It was being created with an objective to create an open and transparent procurement platform of commonly used goods and services for all government departments, ministries, and public sector firms.
• It is embedded with the feature of e-bidding, reverse e-auction, and demand aggregation to facilitate the government users to achieve the best value for their money.
• It is being mandated by the ministry of finance by adding a new Rule no.149 in the General financial rules,2017. 
• It is also integrating with Panchayati raj institutions to allow online buying and selling by panchayats which is being in operation in Gurugram on pilot basis.
• The top five states that are buying from the portal are Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Gujrat, and Madhya pradesh.
• It also comes in the top five e-public procurement systems globally with no chinese product in it at present.