GeM Marks 10 Years With ₹20 Lakh Crore in Public Procurement

The scale of procurement has accelerated sharply since GeM began operations, with annual Gross Merchandise Value rising from just ₹422 crore in FY 2016-17 to more than ₹5 lakh crore in both FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26.

India's Government e Marketplace (GeM) will complete a decade of operations on August 9, 2026, after facilitating more than ₹20 lakh crore in cumulative public procurement through 3.78 crore orders and building a digital marketplace that now connects over 25 lakh sellers with government buyers across the country.

The scale of procurement has accelerated sharply since GeM began operations, with annual Gross Merchandise Value rising from just ₹422 crore in FY 2016-17 to more than ₹5 lakh crore in both FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26. The platform recorded another ₹1,47,888 crore during the first four months of FY 2026-27, showing how digital purchasing has become increasingly embedded across government organisations.

Second ₹10 Lakh Crore Came in Under Two Years

GeM took more than eight years to process its first ₹10 lakh crore in cumulative GMV, while the next ₹10 lakh crore was added in less than two years, reflecting a much faster pace of adoption among buyers and suppliers.

Participation has grown alongside transaction volumes, with profile-completed sellers increasing from 3,339 during GeM's early years to 25.45 lakh, while primary buyer organisations have expanded from 1,707 to 1.37 lakh.

Micro and Small Enterprises have become a major part of this marketplace, with registrations rising from 2,424 to 12.25 lakh. MSEs have fulfilled orders worth more than ₹9.07 lakh crore, representing 45.6% of GeM's cumulative GMV.

Women Entrepreneurs and Startups Win Government Orders

Public procurement through GeM has also opened government business to a wider range of smaller enterprises that may previously have found institutional procurement difficult to access.

More than 2.24 lakh women-led MSEs have completed over 50 lakh orders worth more than ₹99,147 crore, while 42,242 startups have secured business exceeding ₹65,633 crore.

Seller costs have also been reduced, with transaction charges lowered from 0.50% to 0.30% and orders worth up to ₹10 lakh exempted entirely. These changes mean around 97% of orders currently carry no transaction fee, while the maximum fee has been capped at ₹3 lakh and vendor assessment charges have fallen by as much as 92%.

Study Estimates Major Savings From Digital Procurement

An IIT Delhi study covering FY 2023-24 through FY 2025-26 estimated monetised benefits of ₹86,571.69 crore from price and process efficiencies associated with GeM, alongside net social savings calculated at ₹1,76,411.46 crore.

A comparison involving 101 products available on other e-marketplaces found that GeM offered lower prices for 74.3% of the items, producing a spend-weighted saving of 13.6%.

User feedback also indicates broad acceptance of the platform, with interim findings from an Axis My India survey showing that 92% of surveyed buyers were satisfied with their overall experience. Among sellers, 67% reported increased business volumes and 78% said they intended to continue using GeM.

AI Takes Bigger Role in Public Procurement

GeM now digitises the full procurement lifecycle while using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to flag suspected cartelisation, collusion and order splitting, giving authorities additional tools to identify potentially problematic purchasing patterns.

The platform's large transactional database also provides policymakers with information that can be used to analyse government spending, identify inefficiencies and develop procurement policies based on actual purchasing behaviour.

GeM CEO Mihir Kumar said the marketplace has shifted public procurement away from fragmented and opaque processes towards a single digital system where suppliers can compete on their capabilities. He expects the next decade to bring deeper use of AI as GeM works to improve value for public spending while creating broader opportunities for enterprises participating in government procurement.