Public procurement of services from GeM portal may touch Rs 1.5 lakh crore this fiscal

New Delhi: Procurement of services from government portal GeM is expected to touch Rs 1.5 lakh crore this fiscal on the back of an increase in buying by ministries and departments, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The Government e-Market (GeM) portal was launched on August 9, 2016, for online purchases of goods and services by all the central government ministries and departments.

"Services procurement was just Rs 3,069 crore in 2019-20. It reached Rs 65,957 crore in 2022-23. This fiscal it is expected to reach Rs 1.50 lakh crore," GeM CEO P K Singh told reporters here.

He said that the top buyers of services included Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) like Coal India, NTPC Ltd and ONGC, and states (like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Nagaland) and central ministries such as coal, power, defence and finance.

The main service categories which are in demand include manpower outsourcing; vehicle hiring; mine development and operations; handling, transport and other mining services; insurance; IT and medical.

As many as 175 orders are placed by subsidiaries of Coal India, having order value of Rs 24,558 crore for handling, transport and other mining activities.

About 10 types of insurance services are available on the platform such as group mediclaim, assets, liability, motor, livestock, crop and medical.

Singh said that insurance companies have registered on the portal, and it has removed the role of agents.

He also said that some unique services are in demand such as leasing of high value medical equipment; market research/survey; hiring of chartered aircraft; examination service and air international logistics service.

He also added that the procurement of goods and services from GeM has reached Rs 1.10 lakh crore (goods) and Rs 90,000 crore (services), respectively to date.

GeM has over 63,000 government buyer organisations and over 62 lakh sellers and service providers offering a wide range of products and services.

Currently, government departments, ministries, public sector units, state governments, and central armed police forces are allowed to carry out transactions through this portal.

The portal provides a wide range of products from office stationery to vehicles. Automobiles, computers and office furniture are some of the major product categories.

Services, including transportation, logistics, waste management, webcasting and analytical, are listed on the portal. South Korea's KONEPS is the largest such platform in the world.

GeM stands at the third position after Singapore's GeBIZ.