Public procurement of goods, services touches `6,894 cr on GeM in April: CEO

New Delhi: Public procurement of goods and services touched Rs 6,894 crore on government buying portal GeM in April alone on account of steps taken by the platform such as rapid onboarding of buyers and sellers across India and development of custom features for large players, a senior official said on Tuesday.

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.

"The total gross merchandise value of the orders placed on GeM platform in April was Rs 6,894 crore," Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GeM Prashant Kumar Singh said.

Singh said this value exceeds the value of procurement done over the platform in June quarter and September quarter of the previous financial year, and is a milestone in GeM's journey as the national public procurement platform for India.

"GeM was able to achieve this due to its focussed efforts to rapidly onboard buyers and sellers across India, the e-marketplace's diverse and growing catalog of offerings for our buyers and the development of custom features and functionalities for the benefit of large buyers like the Railways, Defence and CPSUs," he added.

He informed that in April, the platform received the single largest order since its inception five years ago.

The order was placed by Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL), a public sector unit under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, for procurement of 'Carbon Steel Coated Line Pipes' with a cumulative value of Rs 2,600 crore.

The CEO said this procurement is planned to be used for the line pipe insertion for about 1,800 kms from Odisha to Assam (Numaligarh).

"This is a mark of the buyers' confidence on the platform and indicates GeM's readiness for large and complex procurements by PSUs, due to the targeted implementation of several customized features and functionalities," he said.

GeM has also assisted NRL and the sellers with extensive support in placing the order, including through multiple rounds of discussions with all stakeholders and hand-holding them through the complete procurement journey.

"This transaction is not only a shot in the arm for GeM but must also serve as an exemplar to all CPSUs to use GeM for their procurement. Large buyers can and should procure competitively priced and high-quality goods and services efficiently and transparently on GeM, regardless of complexity or value," he added.