In a major push for self-reliant India, the government has made it mandatory to mention ‘country of origin’ on products for GeM platform. The decision would also give a major boost to Make in India products. GeM or Government e-Marketplace is the online trading platform for state-run agencies. The decision comes amid strong anti-China sentiment following the clash between the soldiers of two countries at LAC.

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The announcement was made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Twitter. “Information about Country of Origin by the sellers made mandatory on GeM.  #MakeInIndia #AtmaNirbharBharat,” the tweet read. 

The sellers who had already uploaded their products before the introduction of this new feature on GeM, are being reminded regularly to update the Country of Origin, with a warning that their products shall be removed from GeM if they fail to update the same. GeM has taken this significant step to promote ‘Make in India’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.

“Government e-Marketplace (GeM), a Special Purpose Vehicle under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has made it mandatory for sellers to enter the Country of Origin while registering all new products on GeM. Further, sellers, who had already uploaded their products before the introduction of this new feature on GeM, are being reminded regularly to update the Country of Origin, with a warning that their products shall be removed from GeM if they fail to update the same,” the official statement read. 

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The platform will also show the percentage of local content in products. So, from now on, the Country of Origin as well as the local content percentage are visible in the marketplace for all items. More importantly, the ‘Make in India’ filter has now been enabled on the portal.

Buyers can choose to buy only those products that meet the minimum 50% local content criteria. Since its inception, GeM is continuously working towards promotion of ‘Make in India’ initiative.

“In case of Bids, Buyers can now reserve any bid for Class I Local suppliers (Local Content > 50%). For those Bids below INR 200 crore, only Class I and Class II Local Suppliers (Local content > 50% and > 20% respectively) are eligible to bid, with Class I supplier getting purchase preference. Some Snapshots of the Local Content Features on the GeM Portal are shown in Annexure,” the statement said.