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Procurement of goods and services from government portal GeM has crossed Rs 1.5 lakh crore so far this fiscal on account of an increase in buying activities by different ministries and departments, an official statement said on Thursday.

The Government e-Market (GeM) portal was launched on August 9, 2016, for online purchases of goods and services by all the central government ministries and departments.

“As on February 1, the GeM has achieved a staggering Rs 1.5 lakh crore of Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in FY23 alone. Going by the current run rate, GeM is suitably placed to exceed its annual target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore,” the commerce ministry said.

The portal has over 66,000 government buyer organisations and more than 58 lakh sellers and service providers offering a diverse range of goods and services.

The portal features over 11,000 product categories with more than 29 lakh listed products, as well as over 270 service categories with more than 2.5 lakh service offerings.

Based on various studies, the minimum savings on the platform are about 10%, which translates into a savings of over Rs 30,000 crore worth of public money, it said.

“Through automation and digitisation of processes, GeM has led to higher process efficiencies, better information sharing, improved transparency, reduced process cycle times, and a higher level of trust among bidders, which in turn have resulted in greater competition and higher savings,” it said.

These innovations in GeM have also brought down waiting times and prices for buyers significantly and ensured timely payments to sellers.

The portal provides a wide range of products from office stationery to vehicles.

South Korea’s KONEPS is the largest such platform in the world. Currently, GeM stands at the third position after Singapore’s GeBIZ.

GeM CEO PK Singh has earlier exuded confidence that the GeM platform is growing at a faster pace and it would surpass GeBIZ this year.