Ahead of the upcoming cropping season, Government e Marketplace (GeM) has revamped & introduced 170 Seed categories on the portal.

The newly populated categories feature nearly 8,000 seed varieties that can be procured by Central/State PSUs and other governing bodies for further dissemination across the country, according to a Commerce & Industry Ministry statement.

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Created after consultation with stakeholders including state seed corporations and research bodies, seed categories on GeM portal offer a ready framework for seed procurement, incorporating the extant rules & regulations by Government of India and necessary parameters, easing the entire process for procuring authorities, the Ministry added.

“We invite sellers to leverage these new seed categories and list their offerings to participate freely in government tenders. We also encourage seed corporations/state bodies to utilise these new categories for cost-effective procurement of quality seeds” said Roli Khare, Deputy CEO, GeM.

The roll out of these new categories is a part of GeM’s broader strategy to promote category based procurement through the portal.

With an emphasis on increasing efficiency, category based procurement of seeds aims to reduce time consumed in tendering processes, stimulate transparency & accountability in government procurement, while facilitating increased participation of sellers across the country, the Commerce ministry said.

GeM is a platform for procuring common user goods and services by various government ministries and agencies that was set up in 2016.

It also offers a separate service called ‘GeM Sahay’ which enables cash-flow based lending for small and medium enterprises against government purchase orders issued on the parent portal.