New Delhi, June 18 (IANS) Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has expressed happiness over Uttar Pradesh’s extensive procurement of goods and services from the Government e-marketplace (GeM) platforms and praised the latter for contributing to the vision of Digital India.

Union Minister wrote a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and said that the UP government’s initiative towards procurement from GeM portals will inspire other states to follow suit.

He also shared the data of procurement done by the UP government through the GeM portals in the last five years and thanked it for reposing faith in it.

The GeM is a Central Public Procurement Portal that facilitates online procurement of goods and services by Central and State Government Ministries/Departments, Public Sector Undertakings, Autonomous Bodies and Local Bodies.

The platform has seen fast growth in the past few years, with financial year 2024-25 alone witnessing purchase orders of over 72 lakh through the GeM, amounting to Rs 5.43 lakh crore in value.

Since its launch, purchases worth over Rs 14 lakh crore have been made on GeM through more than 2.9 crore purchase orders. Today, the GeM boasts over 11,000 product categories and over 330 service categories.

In his letter to the Uttar Pradesh CM, Piyush Goyal credited the state government for taking the lead role in contributing to this extraordinary growth.

He also thanked the Yogi government for issuing a comprehensive order on November 26, 2024 and said that this will integrate various procurement-related notifications into a single document, simplifying processes and paving the way for 100 per cent adoption of GeM.

“This move will enhance transparency, efficiency, cheapness and ease of procurement process,” he said and also highlighted that this was in line with PM Modi’s vision of GeM as ‘one-stop marketplace’ for all types of needs of govt buyers.

He further pointed out that the UP government’s policy on GeM was aligned with the vision and broader objectives of the Digital India mission.

The minister further said that such an endeavour of the UP government will serve as a source of inspiration for other states to step in and undertake similar procurement from the GeM portals.

“I sincerely hope that your support will continue in the future as well,” he wrote in concluding remarks.

–IANS

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