Co-operatives can buy on government e-marketplace portal
Recently, the central government allowed cooperatives to purchase through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal.
- The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal to extend the mandate of the GeM. This extension is being done to enable cooperative societies to procure on GeM.
- The move will help the cooperatives to get competitive prices through an open and transparent process.
- This will benefit more than 8.54 lakh registered cooperative societies of the country and their 27 crore members.
- This will also help the sellers registered on GOM to reach out to more buyers. Also, this move will make it easier for cooperatives to do business.
Government E Marketplace Portal
- It was launched by the Ministry of Commerce in the year 2016. It aims to provide an open and transparent procurement platform for government buyers.
- It has been developed by the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals with technical support from the National e-Governance Division (NeGD). NeGD comes under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
- The purchase through GeM by government users has been authorized and made mandatory by the Ministry of Finance.
- It is open for purchase by all government buyers. These include departments of the central and state governments, etc.
- Private buyers cannot buy on this platform, but they can sell products to government entities through the portal.
- The supplier (seller) under GeM can be both government and private.
Source – The Hindu
