From office supplies to bathroom rugs, now the Indian government will buy everything it needs from the one-stop Amazon-like e-Marketplace, GeM (Government e-Marketplace). This move will put an end to decades old opaque policy of tenders and will be a huge boost to transparency.

Industry leaders seem all cheers for the latest move of the government.

Anand Mahindra, Executive Chairman, Mahindra Group tweeted in favour of the move in response to a tweet by Chairman of NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, lauding the effort as being a “Giant leap” in the direction of easing business.

While this is a much needed step, one expects that the eligibility norms would be such that smaller players and start ups get a chance to be a part of GeM.

Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D) which fixes the Rate Contracts (RC) for common user items that are required at various government departments, organisations and public sector units, will create a one stop Government e-Marketplace (GeM) which will also provide options for e-bidding and reverse e-auctions. This action which apart from ensuring transparency will also provide government optimum value for money, was taken based on the recommendations of Group of Secretaries to the Prime Minister.

The e-Marketplace is aimed at achieving various benefits not just for governmental departments as buyers but also for the sellers who will have direct access to all government departments. The initiative is being designed to also be one-stop-shop for marketing, product suggestions and monitoring of sales, supply and payment by the sellers.

The Proof of Concept (POC) which is currently being developed will intially be opened for central government departments and public sector units based in Delhi/NCR and thereafter extended to the rest of the country based on the pilot experience.