Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal felicitated top buyers and leading sellers at the 10th Foundation Day celebration of the Government e Marketplace (GeM) held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on August 10, 2026. The event marked a full decade of India’s digital public procurement platform, which has grown from a modest pilot with 3,339 sellers into a national marketplace connecting over 25 lakh sellers with 1.37 lakh government buyer organisations. Alongside the awards ceremony, GeM launched a nationwide five-digit helpdesk short code, a commemorative postal stamp, and a film chronicling its ten-year journey.
What Is Government e Marketplace (GeM)?
The Government e Marketplace (GeM) is India’s national digital public procurement platform, an end-to-end online marketplace where central and state government ministries, departments, public sector undertakings, autonomous institutions, and local bodies procure common-use goods and services. It functions as a 100% government-owned, Section 8 non-profit company under the Department of Commerce, managed by a dedicated Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).
The idea for a dedicated e-marketplace originated from recommendations made by two Groups of Secretaries to the Prime Minister in January 2016, which highlighted systemic inefficiencies, corruption risks, and opaque vendor selection in India’s manual public procurement processes. Acting on these recommendations, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the creation of a technology-driven procurement platform in the Union Budget speech for FY 2016-17 on February 29, 2016. The portal was built in a record five months under the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D), with technical support from the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. It was officially launched on August 9, 2016 by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, replacing the century-old DGS&D procurement framework.
GeM is a contactless, paperless, and cashless marketplace that offers tools such as e-bidding, reverse e-auction, and demand aggregation to help government buyers achieve the best value for public money. The platform operates under the legal backing of Rule 149 of the General Financial Rules (GFR), which makes procurement through GeM mandatory for all central government organisations. An independent assessment by the World Bank found that GeM delivers average savings of approximately 9.75% on the median price for government buyers, a figure validated by India’s Economic Survey as well.
A Decade of Explosive Growth
The scale of GeM’s expansion over ten years tells a remarkable story of accelerating adoption. The platform’s annual Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) surged from just ₹422 crore in FY 2016-17 to over ₹5 lakh crore in each of FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26. In the first four months of FY 2026-27 alone, GeM recorded a GMV of ₹1,47,888 crore, putting it on track for another record year. As of August 7, 2026, cumulative GMV since inception crossed ₹20 lakh crore through more than 3.78 crore orders.
The growth trajectory has been strikingly non-linear. While it took GeM more than eight years to achieve its first ₹10 lakh crore in cumulative GMV, the next ₹10 lakh crore was added in less than two years, reflecting a dramatic acceleration in institutional trust and platform adoption across the public procurement ecosystem.
The seller base has expanded even more dramatically. Profile-completed sellers grew from 3,339 at launch to over 25.45 lakh by August 2026. Primary buyer organisations increased from 1,707 to 1.37 lakh in the same period. The platform now offers more than 10,000 product categories and over 330 services, covering everything from office supplies and vehicles to professional consulting and housekeeping.
An IIT Delhi study covering FY 2023-24 to FY 2025-26 estimated that GeM generated ₹86,571.69 crore in monetised benefits through price and process efficiencies, resulting in a net social saving of ₹1,76,411.46 crore. The benefit breaks down as ₹85,940 crore from the estimated-versus-contracted price gap, ₹590.74 crore in notional publicity value, and ₹40.95 crore from payment-cycle financing gains.
New Initiatives Unveiled at the 10th Foundation Day
Three new initiatives were launched at the 10th Foundation Day celebrations at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.
Nationwide Helpdesk Short Code: 14550
GeM launched a dedicated nationwide five-digit short code, 14550, for its helpdesk services. The new number is mapped to GeM’s existing helpdesk infrastructure and is intended to provide buyers, sellers, and other stakeholders with an easily recognisable channel for support and to identify official GeM communications. The short code replaces the need for longer, harder-to-remember helpline numbers and is expected to significantly improve accessibility for users across the country, particularly those in smaller cities and towns who may have limited familiarity with the platform.
Commemorative ‘My Stamp’
A customised ‘My Stamp’ was released to mark GeM’s 10th Foundation Day. The commemorative stamp highlights the platform’s contribution to digital governance, Ease of Doing Business, and the promotion of Indian enterprises in public procurement. It symbolises GeM’s commitment to building a transparent, efficient, and future-ready public procurement ecosystem aligned with the vision of Viksit Bharat.
Commemorative Film
A commemorative film was also screened at the event, chronicling GeM’s ten-year journey from a pilot initiative under the DGS&D to a national-scale digital procurement platform. The film showcased GeM’s key milestones, its impact on public spending efficiency, and its vision for the future.
In addition, Piyush Goyal felicitated exemplary buyers from central ministries and departments, state government departments, and sellers for their contribution to strengthening India’s public procurement ecosystem.
Five Priorities for GeM’s Second Decade
Addressing the gathering at Bharat Mandapam, Piyush Goyal outlined five key priorities to guide GeM’s evolution over the coming years. He called for a new, user-friendly, and AI-enabled avatar of the platform to make public procurement more efficient, cost-effective, transparent, and competitive.
1. Last-Mile Access Through Suvidha Kendras
Goyal stressed the need to expand GeM’s network of Suvidha Kendras across districts to provide registration, catalogue creation, training, and grievance redressal services. This is particularly important for enterprises in smaller towns and rural areas that face barriers in accessing digital procurement systems. The Suvidha Kendras are designed to bridge the digital divide and bring micro and small enterprises onto the platform.
2. Deeper Use of Artificial Intelligence
A major priority for GeM’s second decade is the deeper integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the platform. AI-based systems are expected to strengthen price intelligence, assess price reasonableness, and improve marketplace integrity, helping ensure fairer competition among suppliers. This will enable buyers to make more informed procurement decisions and sellers to price their offerings competitively.
3. Integration of States, Panchayats, and Cooperatives
Goyal called for bringing state governments, municipalities, panchayats, and cooperatives onto the GeM platform to create a seamless national public procurement ecosystem. Currently, while central government organisations are mandated to use GeM, state-level adoption varies significantly. Unifying the procurement ecosystem across all tiers of government would drastically expand the platform’s reach and impact.
4. Scaling Credit and Sustainability Initiatives
The fourth priority focuses on scaling up credit-related initiatives such as GeM Sahay, a mobile lending application that provides collateral-free working capital loans to MSMEs on the platform, and linkages with the Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS). These measures address the chronic credit gap faced by small sellers and help ensure timely payments. Mainstreaming sustainable procurement practices is also a key focus.
5. University Outreach
The fifth priority involves expanding university outreach to bring young innovators and new buyers onto the platform. This is aimed at building awareness among the next generation of entrepreneurs and familiarising them with government procurement processes from an early stage.
Inclusive Procurement: MSMEs, Women, and Startups
One of GeM’s most significant achievements over the past decade has been its role in democratising access to government procurement for groups that were historically excluded from the process.
MSMEs at the Core
Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) form the backbone of GeM’s seller ecosystem. Registered MSEs on the platform have risen from 2,424 at launch to 12.25 lakh by August 2026. MSEs have fulfilled orders worth more than ₹9.07 lakh crore, accounting for 45.6% of the platform’s cumulative GMV. In FY 2025-26 alone, MSME procurement through GeM reached ₹2.37 lakh crore (approximately $26.84 billion), up from ₹59,033 crore in FY 2021-22. More than half of all sellers on GeM now belong to the MSME category, and 45% of the platform’s total order value goes to MSMEs.
Women Entrepreneurs
GeM has made deliberate efforts to bring women entrepreneurs into the public procurement fold through initiatives like Womaniya. Over 2.24 lakh women-led MSEs are registered on the platform, having executed more than 50 lakh orders worth over ₹99,147 crore. Women entrepreneurs account for approximately 5% of GeM’s total order value and comprise around 8% of the total seller base on the platform.
Startups on the Platform
The startup ecosystem has also benefited from GeM’s inclusive approach. Over 42,242 startups are now active on the platform, having secured procurement orders valued at more than ₹65,633 crore. Initiatives like SWAYATT (Startups, Youth, and Women Advantage through e-Transactions) and Startup Runway 2.0 have been specifically designed to ease startups’ entry into government markets and help them scale through public procurement contracts.
The platform also maintains an Incident Management framework under which proven anti-competitive behaviour or cartel formation can attract suspension of up to 365 days, ensuring a level playing field for all participants.
Key Takeaways
- GeM was launched on August 9, 2016 by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, replacing the century-old Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D).
- The platform is a 100% government-owned, Section 8 non-profit company under the Department of Commerce, operating under Rule 149 of the General Financial Rules (GFR).
- As of August 7, 2026, GeM has facilitated cumulative procurement worth over ₹20 lakh crore through more than 3.78 crore orders.
- Annual GMV grew from ₹422 crore in FY 2016-17 to over ₹5 lakh crore in both FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26.
- GeM launched a nationwide five-digit helpdesk short code, 14550, a commemorative ‘My Stamp’, and a film at its 10th Foundation Day celebrations at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.
- Piyush Goyal outlined five priorities for GeM’s second decade: Suvidha Kendras expansion, AI integration, state and panchayat integration, scaling GeM Sahay and TReDS, and university outreach.
- MSEs account for 45.6% of GeM’s cumulative GMV, with over 12.25 lakh registered MSEs and 2.24 lakh women-led MSEs on the platform.
- An IIT Delhi study estimated that GeM generated ₹86,571.69 crore in monetised benefits through price and process efficiencies over three years.
