Union Cabinet Approves Registration of Cooperative Societies as ‘Buyers’ on GeM Platform

Union Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the registration of cooperative societies as "Buyers" on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) platform. This will give cooperative societies access to over 45 lakh vendors on a single platform, as well as a transparent, cost-effective, and efficient procurement system.

Under the leadership of Union Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah, the Ministry of Cooperation is encouraging Multi-State Cooperative Societies and Cooperative Societies registered under State Cooperative Acts to join the GeM platform for the benefit of their members, with the hope that more cooperative Societies will benefit from this by joining the GeM platform.

In India today, there are approximately 8.54 lakh cooperatives with approximately 29 crore members. They have been involved in a variety of activities related to the production of goods and services. To support their operations, these cooperatives make large purchases of goods and services on the open market. There was a perceived need to provide a platform for them to obtain competitive prices through a transparent and efficient process that would benefit cooperative society members.

Government e-Marketplace (GeM) was established as a National Procurement Portal to provide an end-to-end online marketplace for Central and State Government Ministries/Departments, and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), among others, for the procurement of common-use goods and services in a transparent and efficient manner.

In the fiscal year 2021-22, the Gross Merchandise Value of procurement using GeM exceeded Rs.1 lakh crore. There are approximately 54 lakh products in 9,702 product categories and 279 service categories. In the fiscal year 2021-22, savings of around Rs.10,000 crores are expected.

GeM purchases will provide the following benefits:

• The Cooperatives would obtain competitive prices through an open and transparent process, which would benefit the members of the society economically.

• Cooperative societies can procure from approximately 45 lakh authenticated sellers/service providers available across the country on a single GeM platform. Following standard procedures on GeM would result in time savings and a reduction in administrative burden.

• It would increase the credibility of cooperatives by reducing complaints about mismanagement of funds.

GeM authorities will offer a dedicated onboarding process for cooperatives, as well as technical infrastructure and support for onboarding and transactions through available contact centres, in-field training, and other support services.