Micro and small enterprises (MSEs) have a share of 56.56 per cent in GeM’s overall transaction value of Rs 1.52 lakh crore as of November 2, 2021. (image: Pexels.com)

Logistics for MSMEs: Over 30 lakh sellers selling goods to public sector units and government departments via Amazon of government procurement, Government e-Marketplace (GeM) might soon be able to ship orders via India Post. GeM is currently in talks with India Post for integrating the latter’s service of parcel delivery to help MSME sellers on the marketplace deliver goods to smaller towns and rural areas, according to the GeM CEO Prashant Kumar Singh. The public procurement portal is already looking at integrating with Indian Railways and panchayats to cater to their procurement needs.

“India Post integration will be of help specifically to micro sellers who find challenges in getting government orders due to lack of enough packaging and transportation capacities to deliver orders to every nook and corner of the country. Since India Post is available into the country’s deep interiors as well, the delivery obstacle will be removed for such sellers,” Singh told Financial Express Online. 

GeM is currently developing functionality within the portal for sellers to opt for transportation through India Post after they accept the order from government departments and PSUs, said Singh. “Once that happens, India Post will get the request for the delivery and we will get the order value while the entire movement of goods will be tracked on GeM.” According to India Post, India has the largest postal network in the world with over 1.55 lakh post offices. 

Comments sought from India post on Tuesday evening for this story weren’t immediately available.

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Micro and small enterprises (MSEs) have a share of 56.56 per cent in GeM’s overall transaction value of Rs 1.52 lakh crore as of November 2, 2021, according to the data from the portal. GeM was launched in August 2016 to make the public procurement process transparent and easy in the country for buyers and sellers. 

“While we have not projected the spurt in deliveries after India Post integration but we are simultaneously starting our reach out initiatives state-by-state to enhance procurement from GeM. We would soon also run a proof-of-concept for India Post integration. Currently, the API integration part is what we are working at. India Post deliveries should be available for sellers on GeM by the first quarter of next year but we haven’t still decided on the timeline. Current deliveries are managed by sellers themselves,” said Singh. 

Importantly, the number of sellers on GeM has jumped nearly 5X since last November. From 6.4 lakh sellers as of November 3, 2020, the number has grown to 30.66 lakh sellers as of November 2, 2021, data from the portal showed. Moreover, the number of orders has neared 80 lakhs from 49.5 lakhs last November. However, the growth in the number of sellers has been on the back of the Udyam portal that facilitates automatic registration on the GeM portal. 

“Most of these new registrations are because of integration with Udyam portal since last year. So, whosoever is coming onto the Udyam portal is directly put onto the GeM portal as well. Hence, not all sellers, who opt for simultaneous GeM registration, might be selling on the marketplace. Once they opt for Gem registration, we email them for completing their registration with the listing of goods, etc., while their profile is auto-populated on the GeM portal,” added Singh.