India’s Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has moved far beyond being simply a digital platform for government purchases. Its extraordinary growth reflects a broader transformation in how the public sector engages with businesses, particularly micro, small and emerging enterprises.
According to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, GeM’s Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) has surged from ₹422 crore to more than ₹1.55 lakh crore over the past decade. The numbers underline the scale at which digital procurement has become embedded in India’s economic architecture.
Launched in 2016, GeM was created to bring greater transparency, efficiency and standardisation to government procurement. Its growth demonstrates that digital infrastructure can fundamentally change the relationship between government buyers and private-sector suppliers.
A Bigger Market for Smaller Businesses
One of GeM’s most significant impacts is its ability to widen market access. Government procurement has traditionally been a large but complex opportunity, with smaller companies often facing challenges related to visibility, documentation, networks and access to decision-makers.
A digital marketplace can reduce some of these barriers. Micro and small enterprises can showcase their products and services alongside larger suppliers, potentially opening doors to a customer segment that represents enormous purchasing power.
This matters for India’s manufacturing ecosystem. For a small engineering company, electronics supplier, furniture manufacturer, textile producer or technology startup, winning a government order can provide more than immediate revenue. It can strengthen credibility, improve capacity utilisation and create a foundation for future private-sector business.
From Procurement Platform to Industrial Enabler
The strategic importance of GeM goes beyond transaction volumes. Government procurement can influence what businesses manufacture, how they scale and where they invest.
When procurement increasingly rewards domestic suppliers, innovation, quality and competitive pricing, it can encourage companies to formalise operations and upgrade capabilities. For startups and emerging manufacturers, access to government demand can provide an important early market.
This creates a potential multiplier effect: digital procurement → larger market access → higher production → greater investment → stronger industrial capacity.
For India’s ambition to become a globally competitive manufacturing hub, such demand-side mechanisms are increasingly important.
Women Entrepreneurs and Startups Gain a Digital Gateway
GeM’s expansion also has an inclusion dimension. The growing participation of women-led enterprises and startups indicates that digital procurement can become an important channel for broadening participation in the formal economy.
For women entrepreneurs in particular, the ability to access institutional buyers through a common digital platform can help reduce dependence on traditional business networks. Similarly, startups can use government procurement as a route to validate products, build references and demonstrate their capabilities.
However, registration alone is not enough. Businesses need greater awareness of tendering processes, compliance requirements, product standards and working-capital management to convert platform access into sustainable growth.
The Next Challenge Is Quality of Participation
GeM’s next phase should focus not merely on increasing GMV, but on improving the quality and depth of participation.
More state governments, local bodies, public institutions and smaller suppliers can be brought into the ecosystem. At the same time, procurement processes must remain accessible, competitive and transparent.
For businesses, the message is equally clear: being listed on a digital marketplace is only the beginning. Companies need reliable delivery, competitive pricing, consistent quality and the ability to scale when large orders arrive.
GeM’s journey from ₹422 crore to more than ₹1.55 lakh crore is ultimately a story about the power of digital infrastructure to reshape markets.
India’s next opportunity lies in turning this procurement ecosystem into an even stronger engine for MSMEs, startups, women entrepreneurs and domestic manufacturers.
If government demand can be connected more effectively with India’s expanding industrial capabilities, GeM can evolve from a procurement marketplace into a strategic pillar of the country’s manufacturing and entrepreneurship ecosystem.
The real measure of its next decade, therefore, should not simply be how much India buys through GeM—but how many businesses it helps build, scale and compete globally.
