Ceremonial lamp being lit to launch SWAYATT

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, launched SWAYATT in New Delhi today.  SWAYATT is an initiative to promote Start-ups, Women and Youth Advantage Through eTransactions on Government e Marketplace (GeM). This will bring together the key stakeholders within the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem to Government e-Marketplace the national procurement portal.

On this occasion, Commerce Minister also dedicated GeM Start-up Runway-an initiative of GeM in association with Start -up India to facilitate Start-ups registered with Start -up India to access the public procurement market and sell innovative products and services to government buyers.

Suresh Prabhu also felicitated a few successful entrepreneurs from Women Self Help Groups, Start-ups and MSMEs in GeM.

Speaking on the occasion Commerce Minister said, Suresh Prabhu appreciated the achievements of GeM reaching out and empowering these diverse groups and reiterated the need to support and strengthen such initiatives and enterprises which constitute the backbone of the Indian economy. He also appreciated the event for impressively showcasing many such successful efforts of SHGs, Start-ups, Women enterprises, MSMEs partnering GeM.

Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, C.R. Chaudhary, released a movie on GeM SWAYATT and expressed hope that the national launch of SWAYATT would further seek to promote inclusiveness by catapulting various categories of sellers and service providers, take proactive steps to facilitate the training and registrations of such specific category of manufacturers and sellers, develop women entrepreneurship and encourage participation of MSME sector and Start-ups in public procurement.

CEO GeM, Radha Chauhan, introduced the concept of SWAYATT and Start-up Runway.

The event which was web cast LIVE across the country, witnessed enthusiastic participation from all over India including policy makers, social activists, artisans, women entrepreneurs, and start-ups who will work to ensure market linkages for these sections in public procurement.

Women Self Help Groups, Start-ups, and Government Organization had exhibited 24 stalls at the venue.  The event partners included various Ministries like Women & Child Development, Electronics & IT, MSME, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Rural Development and Skill Development apart from industry associations financial institutions, autonomous bodies like NSIC, KVIC, CCIC and SPVs - Invest India and Start-up India.

GeM Start-up Runway seeks to align certified Start-ups with Government procurement orders and contracts, to enable Start-ups in scaling operations from ideation to growth stage in minimal time, and spur hyper-local job-creation and wealth-generation and for achieving socially-inclusive economic growth.

While Government has relaxed norms in Public Procurement for Start-ups by exempting them from prior experience, prior turnover and Earnest Money Deposit [EMD] stipulations, subject to meeting of quality and technical specifications, product comparison and price discovery are two major constraints for Government buyers in procuring innovative products from Start-ups.

Start-up Runway will enable Start-ups to conduct market trials with government buyers, seek time-bound feedback and gain realistic product, price comparison and market valuation from potential buyers and investors.

Certified Start-ups will register on GeM portal as a seller with their DPIIT number, provide basic description about the performance of their products/services along with the Test Certificates of quality, their functional utility and specify potential user Ministry/ departments where these products can be used.

Ministries and departments will be sensitised proactively through system generated messages/ alerts in Marketplace about availability of such innovative products on the portal  Potential buyers can evaluate these products and services with respect to their utility, uniqueness with respect to design, process and concept, and provide feedback in a time-bound interval and manner. Innovative products with 3+ ratings on a rating scale of (1-5) from 3 or more buyers will be accepted for listing as a regular product or service on GeM

Approximately 1,516 Start-ups are presently registered on GeM with 12,915 products to offer and have received more than 5,000 orders till date.

GeM Start-up Runway seeks to support technology development, spur research and innovation by ensuring a conducive policy environment for industrial diversification and value addition to commodities, and aligns with Government’s philosophy to turn Job-seekers into job-creators.

GeM Start-up Runway will address goals and objectives under United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.

Government e Marketplace, an online market place for procurement of common use goods and services by government ministries, departments and CPSEs was setup in 2016 and has 801,956 products and 5,197 services, with 199,654 registered sellers, service providers and 33,536 government buyers.  Since inception, GeM has processed 1,386,030 orders worth ₹ 19,214 crore in gross merchandise value.

Public procurement relaxations for start-ups expand access via GeM SWAYATT, enabling market trials and buyer feedback. SWAYATT and GeM Start-up Runway expand public procurement access by exempting certified Start-ups from prior experience, prior turnover and earnest money deposit requirements while maintaining quality and technical checks; they enable DPIIT-number-based registration, time-bound market trials, proactive buyer alerts, and a buyer-rating rule (3+ from at least three buyers) to qualify innovative products for regular listing on GeM.