Govt allows cooperatives to procure goods through GeM
NEW DELHI: The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to expand the mandate of Government e-Marketplace (GeM) by allowing procurement by cooperatives.
Presently, the registration of cooperatives as buyers was not covered within the existing mandate of GeM.
The move will help more than 0.854 million registered cooperatives and their 270 million members as they would get products at competitive rates from the GeM portal, according to information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur.
Goods and services registered with the GeM portal are not available for use by private sector buyers, according to the existing mandate. However, suppliers can be from all segments,, whether government or private.
The decision was taken by the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The GeM was launched on August 9, 2016, by the commerce ministry to create an open and transparent procurement platform for government buyers.
At present, the platform is open for procurement by all government buyers, including central and state ministries, departments, public sector enterprises, autonomous institutions, and local bodies.
Allowing cooperative societies to register on GeM as buyers would help cooperatives get competitive prices through an open and transparent process.
The validated list of cooperatives to be onboarded on GeM, for the pilot as well as subsequent scale-up, will be decided by the Ministry of Cooperation in consultation with GeM special purpose vehicle. This will ensure that the technical capacity and logistics requirements of the GeM system are taken into account while deciding the pace of onboarding of cooperatives as buyers on GeM.