GeM says there is 5 times increase in MSME Seller Base
Government eMarketplace (GeM) has seen a 5.2 times increase in the number of MSME sellers in the business to the business marketplace in the past 12 months. The marketplace presently has 21.3 lakh merchants and service providers, which is a significant increase from 4.04 lakh in July 2020. 
The share of micro and small sellers has also seen an increase with a 56 per cent share in total order value. This sharp increase is seen amid the adoption of the online channel of services during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The GeM has more than 53,000 government departments, organisations, and PSUs with products across 16,335 categories and services across 172 categories. 69.61 lakh orders have been processed by the GeM so far. The growth can be attributed to the creation of a dedicated page for the procurement of Covid related medical and allied equipment from small businesses to fight the pandemic.
Government eMarketplace SAHAY is a loan app announced by the Government for GeM sellers to be able to apply for loans at the point of acceptance of an order. Sellers are however warned of business losses who fail to declare the percentage of local content in their products and while creating their catalogues on the portal.
Such sellers will not be allowed to participate in bids in which the buyer has chosen to attain only MII compliant products.
