The 5^th edition of the National Public Procurement Conclave (NPPC) was organized by Government e-Marketplace (GeM) in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry [CII] on August 9^th&10^th, 2021 on the theme “Technology enabled Government Procurement – Towards Efficiency, Transparency, and Inclusiveness”.

The conclave was inaugurated virtually by Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Smt. Anupriya Patel on August 9, 2021 in the presence of Shri BVR Subrahmanyam, Secretary Commerce and Chairman GeM. Delivering the inaugural address, the Minister said that GeM has been instrumental in transforming the public procurement scenario in the country. She emphasized upon the larger objective of GeM focusing on inclusivity. Shri B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, a guest of honour at the event, echoed the vision of  Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi of "Local goes Global" and suggested that GeM should explore possibilities to support the concept of an Atmanirbhar Bharat and giving a fillip to the Make in India ecosystem in the country.

The conference featured an overview session on GeM which took participants through the platform’s key features and functionalities. The Conclave alsohad an eclectic range of panel discussions ranging from promotion of MSMEs in public procurement to how fintech can enable access to credit for sellers and service providers doing business with the Government. Some of the other highlights at NPPC 2021 included the virtual B2B and B2G meetings between Govt. buyers and sellers, training and technical sessions on GeM features and new developments, a virtual GeM stall to resolve queries on the spot and facilitate registration of sellers and buyers, special session for Services such as Hospitality, Travel and Accommodation bookings, on GeM and DIVE sessions where buyers and sellers made online presentations to the participants.

This year’s Conclave provided an excellent opportunity for Government buyers, sellers, industry, and academia to interact with each other, and served as an online platform for sellers to showcase their products and services through the CII’s HIVE Digital Platform. Digital Exhibition of various products and services by sellers that are available on the GeM platform will be showcased during the Conclave for 30 days from August 9- September 9, 2021.

As a fitting closure and to commemorate the undying support of GeM’s stakeholders, the top performing buyers and sellers were awarded for leading the procurement efforts through GeM in financial year 2020-21. These awards were presentedby Shri. P.K. Singh, CEO, GeM to the top 2 entities based on order value and order volume.

For Central Govt. Buyers, the winner was Ministry of Defence while the runner up in this category was Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. For State Govt. Buyers, Uttar Pradesh was adjudged the winner, while the runner up in this category was Gujarat. For CPSEs the winner was GAIL India Limited followed by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. Ltd. On the seller’s front, the award was presented to TATA Motors Ltd. for best sales performance with Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. being the runner up in this category.

In his valedictory address, Shri. P.K. Singh, CEO, GeM congratulated the award winners and thanked them for partnering with GeM in this journey of transforming public procurement through extensive use of technology. He also resonated the vision of the Prime Minister towards creating GeM as a public procurement portal to promote transparency, efficiency and inclusivity.

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MS