Startup registrations double to over 7,438 in last 1 year

New Delhi: The number of startups registered at public procurement portal GeM has more than doubled to 7,438 in the last one year and they are receiving many orders from government departments and public sector units, a senior official said.The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) was launched in August 2016 for online purchase of goods and services by all the central government ministries and departments.

"We now have 48,038 buyers, 7.42 lakh sellers with 2.42 lakh MSEs (micro and small enterprises), 7,438 startups, 10,252 product categories, and 173 service categories. One year ago, we had 40,275 buyers, 2.98 lakh sellers, 59,536 MSMEs, and 3,509 startups," GeM CEO Talleen Kumar said.

He said that providing increased market access to seller groups like startups, and MSEs has reinforced the Make in India initiative. Startups have fulfilled orders worth over Rs 1,800 crore through the marketplace, Kumar said adding GeM is taking a number of steps so that more and more startups, MSMEs, artisans and weavers can register their goods and services on this platform.

"Presently, over 20,000 artisans and 1.2 lakh weavers have registered so far as sellers and are uploading products in their relevant categories," Kumar added.

About the steps taken for startups, he said the portal started a 'Startup Runway' so that these entrepreneurs can showcase their innovative products and solutions, and they can also list multiple products with minimal technical specifications. Further, he said a new and advanced version of the platform will be launched soon which will have powerful features and availability of big-ticket items to attract large buyers like PSUs, railways and defence.