UP top GeM shopper with GMV of Rs 9,442 crore

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / Apr 5, 2021

With a gross merchandise value (GMV) of Rs 9,442 crore in the last four years, Uttar Pradesh has secured the top position in the procurement of goods and services on the GeM (Government e-Marketplace) platform.

UP is trailed by Gujarat and Delhi with respective GMVs of Rs 4,030 crore and Rs 3,145 crore in the top three slots.

Hosted by the Centre, GeM is an end-to-end e-market, where common user goods and services can be procured by various government organisations, including ministries, departments, public sector undertakings (PSU), autonomous bodies etc.

Earlier, the central government had also feted UP with the Best Buyer Award in 2018 and Super Buyer Award in 2019.

According to UP additional chief secretary, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and export promotion, Navneet Sehgal, the procurement by government department and agencies on the GeM portal had checked corruption and leakages worth several crores of rupees over the years.

“At the same time, it has ushered in the elements of transparency, economy and quality in the government procurement process,” he observed and claimed GeM had generated 225,000 direct and indirect job opportunities in UP so far.

Currently, there are 123,697 sellers, including 58,725 MSME vendors, apart from 12,232 buyers registered with the GeM platform in the state.

According to sources, the UP government departments had logged purchases of Rs 602 crore in 2017-18, which increased to Rs 1,674 crore and Rs 2,401 crore in 2018-19 and 2019-20 financial years respectively.

After coming to power in March 2017, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had issued directives for the mandatory procurement of goods and services by the government departments and their subordinate institutions through the GeM portal.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh and Karnataka are other leading buyers on GeM.