Six states, UT including Gujarat sign pact with Centre on e-Marketplace

New Delhi: Six states/Union Territories (UT) including Gujarat today formally adopted the Centre’s initiative called the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) that aims to ensure that public procurement of goods and services in India worth more than ₹5 lakh crore annually is carried out through the online platform for transparency and to eliminate corruption.

The states and the UT that signed an MoU with the Centre include Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Telangana, Puducherry and Arunachal Pradesh.

Four more, including Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Haryana, will ink such an MoU soon. They would have done so on Tuesday but for some technical issues, and more states/UTs are likely to adopt the GeM later, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.

This follows a call made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to all the Chief Ministers in April to ensure that priority is accorded to transparency in public procurement of goods and services. Addressing the chief secretaries of states/UTs on Monday, Mr. Modi had talked about how the GeM can enhance transparency, efficiency and speed in public procurement.