The Government e-Marketplace (GeM), India’s national portal for public procurement, has crossed a cumulative Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of ₹20 lakh crore (₹20 trillion) since it was launched on 9 August 2016. The platform has processed more than 3.78 crore orders in its first decade of operations, with Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) accounting for 45.6 per cent of the total value of procurement. The milestone, reached as GeM completes ten years, cements its position among the largest public procurement platforms in the world.
What Is the Government e-Marketplace (GeM)?
The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is a unified digital platform for the procurement of common-use goods and services by government organisations. It brings together Central and State Ministries, Departments, Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), autonomous bodies, Panchayats and cooperative societies as buyers, and connects them directly with sellers from across the country.
GeM was announced in the Union Budget for 2016-17 and launched on 9 August 2016, following the recommendations of two Groups of Secretaries who proposed a dedicated e-market for government purchases. It was developed by the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D) with technical support from the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The platform is now run by GeM SPV, a 100 per cent government-owned, non-profit Section 8 company registered under the Companies Act, 2013, which functions under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The portal rests on three pillars: efficiency, transparency and inclusivity. It supports multiple procurement modes, including direct purchase, L1 (lowest price) procurement, online bidding and reverse auction, and it integrates with systems such as Aadhaar, PAN, GSTN and MCA21 for verification, and with PFMS for payments. Procurement through GeM is mandatory for goods and services available on the portal under Rule 149 of the General Financial Rules (GFR), 2017, which superseded Rule 141-A of the earlier GFR, 2005.
The ₹20 Trillion Milestone
Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) is the total value of goods and services transacted on a platform over a given period. GeM’s cumulative GMV has risen from just ₹422 crore in FY 2016-17 to more than ₹5 lakh crore in each of FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26. In the first four months of the current financial year 2026-27 alone, the platform recorded a GMV of about ₹1.48 lakh crore.
The pace of growth has quickened sharply in recent years. The first ₹10 lakh crore in cumulative GMV took more than eight years to accumulate, while the next ₹10 lakh crore was added in under two years, a sign of rapidly growing adoption and trust among buyers and sellers.
| Milestone | Details |
|---|---|
| Launch | 9 August 2016 |
| GMV in FY 2016-17 | ₹422 crore |
| GMV in FY 2024-25 | Over ₹5 lakh crore |
| GMV in FY 2025-26 | Over ₹5 lakh crore |
| GMV in first four months of FY 2026-27 | About ₹1.48 lakh crore |
| Cumulative orders | Over 3.78 crore |
| Cumulative GMV (as of 7 August 2026) | Over ₹20 lakh crore |
How the Growth Accelerated
The sharp acceleration reflects deeper participation by state governments, PSUs and autonomous bodies, as well as the widening catalogue of products and services on offer. GeM now supports procurement across more than 10,900 product categories and 356 service categories, served by over 1.36 lakh buyer organisations. The platform also made it faster to settle dues by integrating digital payment systems, which improved the experience for sellers and encouraged more enterprises to list their products.
Why Micro and Small Enterprises Dominate GeM
Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) have fulfilled orders worth more than ₹9.07 lakh crore on GeM, accounting for 45.6 per cent of the platform’s cumulative GMV. Their share has consistently stayed above 40 per cent, even touching 45 per cent in some years, well beyond the mandated target of 25 per cent.
That mandate comes from the Public Procurement Policy for Micro and Small Enterprises Order, 2012, framed under Section 11 of the MSME Development Act, 2006. The policy requires every Central Ministry, Department and Central Public Sector Enterprise to procure a minimum of 25 per cent of its annual goods and services from MSEs, with sub-targets of 4 per cent from MSEs owned by Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs and 3 per cent from MSEs owned by women entrepreneurs. A list of 358 items is reserved for exclusive procurement from MSEs.
GeM gives these enterprises a level playing field through simplified onboarding linked to the Udyam registration portal, exemption from earnest money deposit in many cases, relaxed turnover and experience norms, and purchase preference for local suppliers. The result is that small sellers now compete for the same government orders as large established manufacturers, which has directly supported the Make in India objective of strengthening local manufacturing.
Women-Led Enterprises and Startups on the Platform
GeM’s Womaniya initiative, launched in January 2019, has been a key driver of inclusion for women entrepreneurs. More than 2.24 lakh women-led MSEs have completed over 50 lakh orders worth more than ₹99,000 crore, comfortably exceeding the 3 per cent procurement sub-target for women-owned enterprises. Dedicated categories for handicrafts, handloom, jute and coir, bamboo products and organic foods make it easier for women-led enterprises rooted in traditional skills to sell directly to the government.
Startups have been a similarly fast-growing segment. Around 42,000 startups registered on GeM have secured orders worth more than ₹65,600 crore, helped by exemptions from stringent criteria such as prior turnover, prior experience and earnest money deposit. The platform also runs dedicated #VocalForLocal outlet stores to promote One District One Product (ODOP) goods and farmer producer organisations.
How GeM Shrank the Cost of Government Buying
One of GeM’s most important contributions has been the savings it generates for the exchequer. A study by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, covering the three financial years 2023-24 to 2025-26, estimated a monetised benefit of ₹86,572 crore from price and process efficiencies, with a net social saving of around ₹1.76 lakh crore.
The study also compared prices of 101 items on GeM with leading e-commerce platforms. GeM items were found to be cheaper in 74.3 per cent of the comparisons, delivering a spend-weighted saving of 13.6 per cent. These efficiencies come from standardised specifications, demand aggregation, transparent bidding and the elimination of intermediaries, all of which push prices down.
Technology underpins this transparency. GeM relies on artificial intelligence and machine learning for catalogue validation, anomaly detection and supplier benchmarking, and it introduced GeMAI, billed as the first generative AI chatbot in the Indian public sector, which supports voice and text queries in 10 Indian languages. Every transaction leaves a complete audit trail, and contracts and rates are visible in the public domain, making it difficult for collusion or inflated pricing to escape scrutiny.
Challenges and the Way Forward
Despite its scale, GeM has room to grow. Procurement through GeM is mandatory for the Central government, but for state governments it remains voluntary, decided through individual Memoranda of Understanding, which means coverage across states is uneven. Another concern is ensuring consistent product quality and timely delivery, given the large number of sellers on the platform.
Looking ahead, GeM is expected to deepen its use of AI for fraud detection and demand forecasting, expand its services catalogue beyond goods, and bring more state entities and cooperatives on board. As public procurement accounts for an estimated 15 to 20 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product, even modest gains in efficiency on a platform of this size translate into large national savings. GeM’s journey from a small e-marketplace to a ₹20 lakh crore platform signals how digital public infrastructure can make government spending faster, fairer and more accountable.
Key Takeaways
- The Government e-Marketplace (GeM), India’s national public procurement portal, was launched on 9 August 2016 and is operated by GeM SPV under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
- GeM crossed a cumulative Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of ₹20 lakh crore (₹20 trillion) by 7 August 2026, processing over 3.78 crore orders in a decade.
- Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) accounted for 45.6 per cent of GeM’s cumulative procurement value, fulfilling orders worth over ₹9.07 lakh crore.
- GeM’s annual GMV grew from ₹422 crore in FY 2016-17 to over ₹5 lakh crore in each of FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26.
- The 25 per cent mandatory MSE procurement target comes from the Public Procurement Policy for MSEs Order, 2012, under Section 11 of the MSME Development Act, 2006.
- The Womaniya initiative, launched in January 2019, has enabled over 2.24 lakh women-led MSEs to secure orders worth over ₹99,000 crore.
