Lucknow, July 20, 2021

With a stringent ‘Zero-Tolerance’ Policy, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has managed to curb corruption that was prevalent in all the departmental purchases in the state during previous governments through the GeM portal.  

By mandating all purchases by government departments and their subordinate institutions through the GeM portal, the process has reflected transparency as well as has eliminated human interface naturally diminishing the chances of corruption in the last 4 years. Through this process, the government departments have made maximum purchases in the country even amid the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic.  

The purchases have climbed up by about 20 times in the last four and half years because of which the state of Uttar Pradesh has outperformed all the other states and has acquired the first spot country-wide. 

After taking over the reins of Uttar Pradesh, CM Yogi Adityanath had instructed to operationalise the GeM portal effectively in order to establish a corruption-free environment. Uttar Pradesh has also achieved the first position in the purchase from GeM Portal, followed by Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab at number ten.

In the first quarter of the financial year 2019-20, procurement worth Rs 365 crore was done through the GeM portal. Whereas during the Covid period, procurement worth Rs 561 crores was done in the first quarter of the financial year 2020-21 and procurement of Rs 2075 crores was completed in the first quarter of the current financial year 2021-22. As a result, the purchases have seen a four-fold increase this year as compared to last year. 

These departments made more purchases

The Urban Development Department has made maximum purchases through the GeM portal in the state, followed by the Health Department, Basic Education Department, Department of Medical Education, Department of Home, Department of Vocational Education and Skill Development, Department of Food and Logistics and Department of Information and Public Relations. 

Corruption worth Crores has been curbed : Navneet Sehgal

According to Additional Chief Secretary MSME, Navneet Sehgal, corruption involving amounts of crores has been curbed and stopped with the transparent procuring process enabled by the GeM portal. Priority is being given to quality and transparency in departmental purchases, due to which today there are about 12,589 government buyers and over 1,81,487 sellers on the portal, including nearly 60,906 entrepreneurs of micro and small businesses. 

More than two and a half lakh people have also got direct and indirect employment from these industries. In the last four years, government departments have placed 5,45,660 orders worth Rs 11,885 crore.

Awarded twice by the Central Government

Various departments have made purchases worth Rs 602 crores in the financial year 2017-18, and a purchase worth Rs 1674 crores in the financial year 2018-19 and purchase worth Rs 2401 crores in the financial year 2019-20 through the GeM portal in the state, which increased to Rs 4675 crore in the financial year 2020-21. In this way, in the financial year 2021-22 till July 15, procurement worth Rs 2483 crore was done. The Central Government has also honoured Uttar Pradesh with ‘Best Buyer Award’ in 2018 and ‘Super Buyer Award’ in 2019.

*Position of Major States :

Uttar Pradesh 11425

Gujarat           4743

Madhya Pradesh 3701

Delhi               3387

Maharashtra   2961

Bihar               2252

Orissa             1498

Chattisgarh     1496

Jammu & Kashmir 1375

Punjab            1268

Chandigarh     1151

Andhra Pradesh 1141

Karnataka        948

(Note- All figures are in crores and are based on last four and a half years)

What is GeM Portal :

GeM Portal is a platform where more than 1,81,487 thousand sellers are registered. Thousands of products from these vendors are also available at the prescribed rates and standards. The state government mandates that the products or services that are available on the GeM portal will be compulsorily purchased from the GeM portal.