India-UK FTA: Government plans GeM push for global tenders
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India's government e-marketplace , or GeM , plans to introduce global tendering functionalities for the public procurement portal this year, following a free trade agreement (FTA) with the UK that opens government procurement on both sides to entities based in the two countries, senior officials said Monday. At present, these features are not available on the GeM portal."We are working to add these features," said GeM CEO Mihir Kumar. Global tendering functionality would enable participation from international suppliers or overseas vendors.The FTA has a chapter on government procurement wherein eligible UK suppliers would be allowed to bid for domestic tenders as deemed Class II local suppliers only.Class II local supplier is the one with the local content of more than 20% and less than 50%."We plan to bring rate contracts and global tenders on GeM this year. The FTA with the UK is one reason for global tendering to go live. We want to tap that market," said another official, adding that the functionality would have been launched later had the FTA not been there.For the first time, UK has agreed to grant Indian suppliers non-discriminatory treatment in its public procurement.GeM is looking at facilitating transactions worth Rs 7 lakh crore in 2025-26, compared to Rs 5.42 lakh crore in 2024-25.At present, 40-50% of annual procurement of the government is happening through this portal.
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