New Delhi (Agency): Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s leading software exporter, has been awarded the contract to manage and maintain the Government e-Market (GeM) procurement portal, as disclosed by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday.
The GeM platform was initiated on August 9, 2016, by the commerce ministry. The digital portal allows all central government ministries and departments to conduct online purchases of goods and services.
The minister stated that efforts to modernize the system are ongoing. “And now we are also gone in for a new contract. By the end of this year or early next year, we are trying to develop a new system, which will be more contemporary, modern…We are trying to bring in more elements for ease of operations and to give you (buyers and sellers) data analytics to help in your procurement decisions…TCS has won the contract (for that),” Goyal explained.
Goyal expressed his optimism that the procurement of goods and services via the GeM portal would exceed Rs 3 lakh crore in the current fiscal year, noting that the platform had already facilitated transactions exceeding Rs 2 lakh crore in 2022-23.
Speaking about TCS’s contract win, GeM CEO PK Singh emphasized the dramatic “10x” growth in procurement on the platform over the past three years. “We are using the best of the technologies to make the system more efficient and effective,” Singh commented.
At present, the GeM platform hosts over 63,000 government buyer organizations and over 62 lakh sellers and service providers, offering a broad spectrum of products and services. Government departments, ministries, public sector units, state governments, and central armed police forces currently have permission to conduct transactions via this portal.
The GeM platform offers a diverse range of products, including office stationery, vehicles, automobiles, computers, and office furniture, among others. Moreover, it lists an array of services such as transportation, logistics, waste management, webcasting, and analytics.
With the largest global platform being South Korea’s KONEPS, the GeM portal presently holds the second position worldwide in terms of size and reach.