Cooperatives in Government-e-Marketplace (GeM) Platform

Published: June 2, 2022

The Union Cabinet has expanded the scope of the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) to allow cooperative societies to register as buyers on this portal.

How will this decision help the cooperatives?

This decision will help the cooperatives of the nation to get competitive prices via a transparent and open process. Due to this decision, over 8,54,000 registered cooperatives along with their 270 million members will be benefitted. The cooperative societies have over 270 million members, thus, procurement through the GeM portal will economically benefit the common man, and would also boost cooperatives’ credibility. Currently, cooperatives could not register as “buyers” on the GeM platform and it was only made accessible for procurement by:

  • The departments of the state governments
  • The departments of the central government
  • Local and autonomous bodies
  • public sector undertakings (PSUs)

While private players cannot use this portal for buying, still the private sector along with the government can become suppliers on this platform.

How will the cooperatives be boarded on this platform?

A validated list of cooperatives will be boarded on this portal for the pilot and it will be scaled up subsequently. This onboarding will be decided by the Ministry of Cooperation in consultation with GeM. A dedicated onboarding process will be offered by the GeM for the cooperatives. Technical infrastructure will also be provided to support additional users. The Ministry of Cooperation will be issuing advisories to encourage the cooperative societies of the country to make use of this platform for the procurement of services and goods. Also, to ensure timely payments and to protect the interest of the sellers, the payment system modalities will be decided by the GeM in association with the cooperation ministry.

What is the GeM portal?

This portal was launched by the government in August 2016 as an end-to-end e-marketplace with the aim of facilitating efficient and transparent e-procurement of commonly-used services and goods that are required by the states, the Centre, and the PSUs. The GeM is a government-to-business platform.

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