MSME seller count on the Modi government’s B2B e-commerce portal Government eMarketplace (GeM) has grown 5x from 3.87 lakh sellers as of June 11, 2020, to 19.17 lakh as of Tuesday, as per the statistics on the portal. In sheer numbers, the public procurement marketplace has accomplished fairly a size given that its launch in August 2016 to bring transparency and efficiency to the public procurement method. The portal had crossed the 10-lakh seller milestone in January this year. While that occurred in a 4-and-a-half-year period, the portal is anticipated to add a further 10-lakh count in about a month or two – about six-month duration. The speed at which the portal is expanding its seller base is considerable.
“Government has created this digital platform which is no way less than any international platform in India. Moreover, the government in itself is a very large market for MSMEs. This market size is also nowhere near to private e-commerce portals, it is far beyond. If you compare the actual business transactions on GeM and other portals, it would be much larger on the former. Hence, with the government and its enterprises being such large buyers, of course, this is a world of huge opportunities for MSMEs,” Rajiv Chawla, Chairman at the MSME association — IamSMEofIndia told TheSpuzz Online. Moreover, given that it is also governed by bidding and tenders rather of a single price tag listed for a distinct solution, sellers are more empowered to grab the order, according to Chawla.
Out of the current MSME sellers on GeM, almost 7 lakh are micro and modest sellers (MSE) with a share of 56.17 per cent in the order worth presently. MSE seller count had grown from about 1 lakh sellers in June last year and more than 4.71 lakh in January this year. The portal may possibly see a considerable jump in general sellers as the government is integrating it to the Railways procurement that would most likely see about Rs 50,000 crore of annual procurement, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had stated lately in a GeM overview meeting.
Buoyed by the development of the platform, GeM had launched a revamped version of the marketplace dubbed GeM 4. with “sweeping changes that will go a long way in improving the buying and selling process,” the introduction to the portal study on GeM. In truth, there is work underway for the 5. version but the rollout will most likely take some more time.
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How GeM 4. is unique from its prior avatars?
Unlike prior ones, purchasers are in a position to collate numerous orders of the similar solution for unique consignees across numerous organisations let’s say in the similar ministry in a single bid for added expense-effectiveness, according to GeM. Also, purchasers are in a position to spot a single order for quantities delivered more than a period of time, let’s say a year or two, with a defined schedule. This gives “the benefit of bulk procurement with the flexibility of deliveries,” according to the GeM portal. Among other marketplace enhancement features integrated
- NLP-based search engine for improved analysis of the most relevant items.
- Revamped user interface and user encounter design and style.
- Ease of payment by way of integration with banks and ERPs for timely payments
- System generated names of items to stop uploading of items in incorrect categories
- Separate corner for CPSEs and big purchasers to show relevant data certain to their procurement wants.
“It (GeM) has certainly benefited MSMEs but now it is a question of how MSMEs want to upgrade themselves and understand the digital world now. Earlier, the government used to be behind entrepreneurs in technology adoption, etc., and would take more time to understand. But in the last decade, I have seen that government is far more technologically equipped in many of its operations. It is time for entrepreneurs to understand the digital future and GeM is the digital future for MSMEs. They have the market of entire government purchases on their fingertips,” Chawla added.
What are the modifications in bidding and rating systems?
GeM 4. gives item-sensible and consignee-sensible bidding for procurement and ease of access. The bidding processes for L1 (in between Rs 25,000 and Rs 5 lakhs) and above is revamped to make the bidding method more transparent. Moreover, the sellers have to deposit one-time caution income for procurement in L1 up to Rs 5 lakhs to make certain discipline and compliance. The rating program is also revamped to consist of rating-based filtering of sellers.
What about buyer assistance systems?
The portal has a revamped incident management policy with AI chatbot-based buyer assistance systems. The portal displays data on quantity procured, the quantity spent, terms and circumstances for important procurements, and so on. The CRM program is also enhanced for tracking the grievances by way of buyer lifecycles.
How to register on GeM?
The prerequisites for seller registration on GeM consist of firm form such as proprietorship, firm, firm, trust or society, and so on Aadhaar or PAN of the user address along with bank account specifics of the firm and e mail ID. Documents such as CIN, PAN, DIPP, UAM, ITR specifics may possibly also be essential.