Commerce & Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu on Wednesday launched the launch of National Mission on Government eMarketplace (GeM) and said it will promote all sections of entrepreneurs, including MSMEs and start-ups.

Launching the National Mission on GeM, Prabhu said aim of this mission is to promote inclusiveness by empowering various categories of sellers and service providers such as MSMEs, start-ups, domestic manufacturers, women entrepreneurs, and Self-Help Groups.

He further stated that during this mission efforts will be made to bring more self-help groups, artisans and start-ups on this platform.

Government eMarketplace is the national public procurement portal offering an online, end-to-end, solution for procurement of common use goods and services by government departments.

Under the mission, the Central and State Governments along with Banks and PSUs willundertake the national drive from6th September to 17th October 2018by organising workshops, roadshow,trainings, events and other information, education and communication activities, including buyer and seller registration.

The Minister added that in the next 3 years transactions on GeM will reach USD 100 billion.

The GeM portal has nearly 27 thousand buyer organisations registered and about 1.37 lakh sellers and service providers offering more than 4.65 lakh products and services for online purchase and contributes to approximately 20-25% average overall savings to the Government.

The mission also aims to give a boost to cashless, contactless, paperless transactions in line with Digital India objectives.