On 9 August 2026, the Government e Marketplace (GeM) turns ten. Over that decade, the platform has reshaped how the government buys goods and services, leaning on technology, transparency and efficiency to get there. The numbers tell the story on their own: a cumulative Gross Merchandise Value of over ₹20 lakh crore, built up across more than 3.78 crore orders. That scale alone says something about how central GeM has become to public procurement in India.
From ₹422 Crore to Over ₹5 Lakh Crore a Year
GeM’s growth curve has been anything but linear. Annual GMV started at just ₹422 crore back in FY 2016-17, and now it clears ₹5 lakh crore in each of the last two years, FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26. The momentum hasn’t slowed either. In just the first four months of FY 2026-27, the platform already logged ₹1,47,888 crore in GMV. Perhaps the clearest sign of accelerating adoption: it took more than eight years for GeM to hit its first ₹10 lakh crore in cumulative GMV, but the second ₹10 lakh crore came in under two years.
The user base has grown just as dramatically as the transaction volumes. Profile-completed sellers went from a mere 3,339 to 25.45 lakh, and the number of primary buyer organisations climbed from 1,707 to 1.37 lakh. Registered Micro and Small Enterprises rose from 2,424 to 12.25 lakh over the same stretch.
MSEs, Women-Led Businesses and Startups Get a Bigger Slice
GeM hasn’t just grown, it’s tried to grow inclusively. MSEs alone have fulfilled orders worth more than ₹9.07 lakh crore, which works out to 45.6 per cent of the platform’s total GMV. Women-led MSEs, over 2.24 lakh of them, have completed more than 50 lakh orders worth upwards of ₹99,147 crore. Startups have carved out their own space too: 42,242 of them have won orders totalling over ₹65,633 crore.
Independent research backs up the platform’s efficiency claims. An IIT Delhi study, looking at the period from FY 2023-24 to FY 2025-26, calculated a monetised benefit of ₹86,571.69 crore from price and process efficiencies, which translates into a net social saving of ₹1,76,411.46 crore. The same study compared 101 items across GeM and other e-marketplaces and found GeM cheaper on 74.3 per cent of them, with a spend-weighted saving of 13.6 per cent. This isn’t the first time such savings have shown up either. The Economic Survey 2021-22 had already flagged consistent procurement savings through the platform.
Lower Fees Mean Easier Business for Sellers
To make life easier for sellers, GeM has trimmed several costs. Transaction charges dropped from 0.50 per cent to 0.30 per cent, and orders up to ₹10 lakh no longer attract any transaction charge at all. That single change means 97 per cent of all orders on the platform now go through fee-free. On top of that, the maximum transaction fee has been capped at ₹3 lakh, and vendor assessment fees have come down by as much as 92 per cent.
An Axis My India survey, still in its interim stage, found that 92 per cent of buyers surveyed were satisfied with their overall experience on GeM. Sellers had good things to say too: 67 per cent reported doing more business than before, and 78 per cent said they plan to keep using the platform.
AI Now Watches for Cartels and Collusion
Behind the scenes, GeM digitises the full procurement lifecycle and uses AI and machine learning to flag suspected cartelisation, collusion and order splitting. Because everything runs digitally, the platform also generates a detailed data trail, something policymakers can use to track spending, spot inefficiencies and shape policy with actual evidence behind it.
Leadership Looks Ahead to an AI-Driven Next Decade
GeM CEO Mihir Kumar summed up the shift the platform has driven: “GeM has moved public procurement from opaque, fragmented processes to a single, transparent marketplace where capability determines success. The next decade will be defined by deeper use of AI for better value for the public and equal opportunity for every enterprise.”
Looking forward, GeM says it plans to keep pushing data-driven technologies to encourage fair competition, get more value out of public spending, and build a procurement system that works better for both buyers and sellers, all in step with the broader Viksit Bharat vision.
Key Takeaway: Over the past decade, the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has emerged as a cornerstone of India’s digital governance and public procurement ecosystem, facilitating over ₹20 lakh crore in procurement through a transparent, technology-driven platform while significantly expanding participation by Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs), women-led businesses, and startups. Independent assessments by IIT Delhi have highlighted substantial social and fiscal savings through greater price efficiency and streamlined procurement processes, while reduced transaction costs, AI-enabled monitoring of cartelisation and collusion, and end-to-end digital procurement have further strengthened transparency, competition, and accountability.
As GeM enters its second decade, its continued focus on artificial intelligence, data-driven policymaking, inclusive market access, and efficient public spending aligns with the broader objectives of Digital India, ease of doing business, and the vision of Viksit Bharat.
M.C.Q.
Question 1: The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is primarily a platform for:
- A. Online tax collection from citizens
- B. Procurement of goods and services by government organizations
- C. Marketing agricultural produce through e-NAM
- D. Online recruitment to Central Government services
Question 2: According to the recent assessment, the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) primarily to:
- A. Forecast inflation trends
- B. Detect cartelisation, collusion, and order splitting in procurement
- C. Monitor GST compliance
- D. Track stock market transactions
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