New Delhi, Aug 9 (UNI) Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday announced that Government e-Marketplace (GeM) and Indian railways are working earnestly to integrate the latter’s procurement with the former and maintained that this will save efforts, manpower and bring in more efficiency and transparency in the system.

He said that the railways presently spend about Rs 70,000 crore per annum on procurement and the integration of the system with the GeM will lead to saving of at least 10-15 per cent which is almost Rs 10,000 crore.

The Fourth edition of the National Public Procurement Conclave (NPPC), organised by GeM, in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for two days, was inaugurated online by Mr Goyal to coincide with the anniversary of GeM Establishment Day.

Lauding the success of GeM in becoming a game changer in the Government procurement, Mr Goyal called upon more and more buyers and sellers to join the system.

Expressing the confidence that GeM will be able to unlock the value and save money for the nation’s development, he said that it has helped in transparent, seamless, easy, efficient and faster procurements.

All the information is available at one place, and any outlier trying to manipulate the system can be easily identified.

He said that the Government’s decision to ask the buyers to give interest for delayed payments in GeM is a significant step. At the same time, he also cautioned the unscrupulous sellers from pushing the poor quality goods or charging exorbitant prices, as they will not only be blacklisted from the GeM portal but from the entire Government ecosystem.

The theme of NPPC is 'Technology enabled Government Procurement – Towards efficiency, transparency, and inclusiveness'.

Mr Goyal welcomed the offer from the CII to partner with GeM and expand the reach to the nook and corner of the country. He said that GeM has the advantage of being seamless, transparent, open and efficient and technology-driven, and this will gain momentum if more and more buyers and sellers join the system.

More procurement orders will lead to more sellers joining it, leading to more competition, and availability of quality products at cheaper prices. 'More the merrier', said the Minister.

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