Govt e-marketplace mandates for sellers to spell out 'country of origin' on products

In a bid to promote Make in India and Aatma Nirbhar Bharat (Self-reliant India), the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has mandated for sellers to spell out the "Country of Origin" of products they want to sell on the platform.

GeM, a special purpose vehicle under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has also enabled a provision for the indication of the percentage of local content in products.

The government procurement portal has made it mandatory for sellers to enter the country of origin while registering all new products on GeM, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement on Tuesday.

With this new feature, now, the Country of Origin as well as the local content percentage will be visible in the marketplace for all items.

"Sellers, who had already uploaded their products before the introduction of this new feature on GeM, are being reminded regularly to update the Country of Origin, with a warning that their products shall be removed from GeM if they fail to update the same," the statement said.

It also said that the Make in India filter has also been enabled on the portal granting buyers the choice to buy only those products that meet the minimum 50 percent local content criteria.

"In case of Bids, buyers can now reserve any bid for Class I Local suppliers (local content more than 50 percent). For those Bids below INR 200 crore, only Class I and Class II Local Suppliers (local content more than 50 percent and more than 20 percent respectively) are eligible to bid, with Class I supplier getting purchase preference," the statement said.

"Since its inception, GeM is continuously working towards promotion of 'Make in India' initiative. The marketplace has facilitated the entry of small local sellers in public procurement while implementing Make in India and MSE Purchase Preference Policies of the government in the true sense," it added.

It said that the GeM is enabling quick, efficient, transparent, and cost-effective procurement, especially in this hour of need when government orgzations require products and services urgently to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

( With inputs from ANI )