The share of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) selling to government organisations, departments and ministries on the public procurement portal, Government eMarketplace (GeM), has more than doubled in the past 12 months. From 71,941 MSE sellers having a 22 per cent share of the 3.29 lakh seller base on GeM in February last year, the count has increased to 5,45,145 MSE sellers with a 49.5 per cent share of 10,99,116 total sellers as of February 25, 2021, according to the data sourced from GeM.

The jump in MSE seller count was over seven times during the year. Moreover, the order value for MSE sellers has also increased from 52.65 per cent to 57.85 per cent. The total transaction value on GeM stood at Rs 85,683 crore as of February 25, 2021. 

Likewise, the number of government buyers has increased from 43,005 to 50,709 during the 12-month period, while the number of product categories has jumped from 5,274 to 14,303. Apart from this, service categories have increased from 116 to 177. The marketplace was launched by the Union Commerce Ministry in August 2016 to increase transparency and efficiency in the public procurement process.

Importantly, GeM was the first e-commerce portal in India to hit the mega milestone of 10 lakh sellers on its platform. The marketplace had crossed that mark in January this year within four-and-a-half years of its launch.