Procurement of services through government buying portal GeM touched Rs 1.82 lakh crore as of February 22, an official statement said on Friday. It was Rs 8,500 crore in 2020-21, the commerce ministry said.
It added that two bids placed by South Eastern Coalfield Limited, a subsidiary of Coal India Limited, worth nearly Rs 40,000 crore, have catapulted the share of service procurement this month.
GeM CEO P K Singh said that the GeM has harnessed digital capabilities and has emerged as a one-stop-shop for procurement of all possible services that may be required by Government buyers at various levels of administration.
GeM was established in 2016 to provide government buyers an end-to-end digital platform to carry out public procurement of goods at cost-effective rates.
In 2019-20, the platform diversified its portfolio to include services as a separate segment by offering government buyers the flexibility to hire very few basic services like Manpower Hiring, Cab Hiring, Security Services and Cleaning & Sanitation services, through tools like e-bidding and reverse auction.
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