The Union Cabinet, under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday, adopted a proposal to broaden the scope of the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) by permitting cooperative procurement. Registration of cooperatives as purchasers has, so far, not been covered under GeM’s current mandate.

The move is expected to benefit approximately 8.54 lakh registered cooperatives and their 27 crore members since the GeM portal will provide items at reasonable prices.

Speaking to reporters, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said that the move will be of great help to the cooperatives. As per the present mandate, private sector customers are not permitted to purchase products and services registered on the GeM site. Suppliers (sellers) can come from any sector, including government and private.

The Commerce Ministry created the GeM on August 9, 2016, to offer an open and transparent procurement platform for government purchasers. All government purchasers can use the platform right now, including federal and state ministries,

Allowing cooperative societies to register as buyers on GeM would assist cooperatives in obtaining competitive pricing in a transparent and open manner.

The Ministry of Cooperation, in cooperation with the GeM special purpose vehicle, will decide on a verified list of cooperatives to be onboarded on GeM for the pilot and eventual scale-up (SPV).

This will guarantee that the GeM system’s technical capabilities and logistics requirements are considered when determining the rate at which cooperatives are onboarded as GeM purchasers.

GeM will offer cooperatives with a specialised onboarding process, technological infrastructure to handle extra users on current portals, and onboarding and transaction journey help via accessible contact centres, in-field training, and other support services.

The Ministry of Cooperation will publish the required recommendations to encourage cooperative societies to adopt the GeM platform for goods and services procurement in order to benefit from enhanced transparency, efficiency, and competitive prices.

The modalities of payment systems will be set by GeM in conjunction with the Ministry of Cooperation to safeguard the interests of the larger seller community on GeM and to ensure timely payments.