The Ministry has Procured Goods & Services Worth Rs 685 crore through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM)

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs plays a significant role in key national initiatives such as the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) for housing the urban poor and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) for urban infrastructure development, including drainage, water supply, sewerage, and septic tanks.

In the current financial year, as of October 10, the ministry has procured goods and services worth Rs 685 crore through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), a government-to-business procurement portal, demonstrating its increasing use of this platform. GeM primarily involves micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) sellers.

However, in the fiscal year 2022-23, the Defense Ministry emerged as the top buyer of MSME goods through GeM, nearly doubling its online procurement compared to the previous fiscal year, reaching Rs 28,732.9 crore, a 90.4% increase from the previous year.

As of October 24, GeM had facilitated the procurement of goods and services worth Rs 1.85 lakh crore across 11,843 products and 311 service categories, with a total order volume of 29.18 lakh. The platform boasts over 1.03 lakh primary buyers and more than 1.95 lakh secondary buyers. MSMEs account for 48.83% of the order value.

To encourage greater participation by MSMEs on GeM, the platform has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Udyam platform, allowing the sharing of data from Udyam-registered MSMEs with GeM. Additionally, GeM offers businesses opportunities to participate in trade fairs, exhibitions, conclaves, expos, and the Make in India initiative, thereby assisting government buyers in meeting their MSME procurement targets.