Government e-Marketplace (GeM) commemorates the success of “SWAYATT”, an initiative to promote Start-ups, Women and Youth Advantage through e-Transactions on GeM

Gem promotes social and financial inclusion by registering more than 8.5 lakh Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) on GeM portal; MSEs on GeM secure business worht over Rs. 1.87 lakh crore spread across 68 lakh+ orders

A function was held to commemorate the success of “SWAYATT”, an initiative to promote Start-ups, Women and Youth Advantage Through eTransactions on Government eMarketplace (GeM) in New Delhi. Smt. Radha S Chauhan, Secretary, Ministry of Personnel and Training was the Chief Guest, and Ms. Mercy Epao, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Government of India & Shri Sanjeev Gautam, Director SFAC (representing the Farmer Producer Organisations) graced the occasion as guests of honour.

Addressing the gathering, Shri P.K. Singh, CEO, GeM informed the house about the progress made so far in promoting social and financial inclusion by way of registering more than 8.5 lakh Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) on GeM portal who have been able to get business of over Rs. 1.87 lakh crore spread across 68 lakh+ orders. He further informed that more than 1.45 lakh women MSEs have fulfilled 7.32 lakh orders worth 15, 922 Crore and approx. 43K SC/ ST MSEs have delivered 1.35 lakh+ order worth 2,592 Crore on the GeM portal so far. 

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Guest Smt. Radha S Chauhan lauded the efforts of the GeM in ramping up the presence of the under served seller groups such as MSEs, women, Divyangjan and tribal entrepreneurs, Startups, self-help groups, artisan and weavers etc. and giving them direct access to the Government Procurement. She also noted that the journey of GeM order book from Rs. 422 lakh crore in 2016-17 to the current Rs.1.70 lakh crore (upto february, 2023) has been nothing short of a miracle and could not have been possible without the untiring efforts of the entire team at GeM.

Ms. Mercy Epao, in her address as guest of honour informed the about the various schemes of  the Ministry of MSME for the benefit of women, SC/ ST MSEs and Startups and highlighted the important role of GeM in achieving many of its scheme objectives. Shri Sanjeev Gautam, Director SFAC thanked GeM for their support in facilitating more than 105 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) who can now sell more than 200 Agri products directly to the Government.   

The event was attended by representatives from Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA-Bharat), National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), and Small Farmers Agri Consortium (SFAC), Sellers representing Start up space, FPOs, women entrepreneurs and youth along with senior officials of the GeM. 

The initiative to promote “Start-ups, Women and Youth Advantage Through eTransactions” (SWAYATT) on GeM was first launched in February 2019. The intent of SWAYATT 2019 was to promote inclusiveness of various categories of sellers and service providers on the portal, by taking proactive steps to facilitate their 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.

Government e Marketplace (GeM) - GeM is a Section 8 company setup under the administrative control of the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, for procurement of goods and services by Central Ministries, State Departments, PSEs and Autonomous Bodies. Social inclusion is a core value at GeM and we are focused on increasing participation from under-served sellers who face challenges in public procurement

Public procurement inclusion expands access for startups, women, youth through GeM's SWAYATT initiative enabling targeted registration and participation. SWAYATT promotes targeted inclusion of Start-ups, women, youth and other under served seller groups into public procurement by facilitating proactive registration, training and access to e transactions on the GeM platform. Mechanisms include outreach to Micro and Small Enterprises, capacity building for women and SC/ST MSEs, enabling Farmer Producer Organisations to sell agricultural products directly to government buyers, and streamlining seller onboarding to increase participation in government procurement.