In a bid to promote Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) and push India’s ‘Make in India’ cause, the government’s procurement portal, Government e-Marketplace (GeM), has made it mandatory for sellers to mention ‘country of origin’ on products they wish to sell through the platform.
The Government e-Marketplace (GEM) has also enabled a provision for the indication of the percentage of local content in products with a view to promote ‘Make in India’.
“GeM has taken a significant step towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat and has made it mandatory for sellers to enter the country of origin while registering all new products on GeM,” the portal’s CEO Talleen Kumar told news agency PTI.
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 will be “removed” from the platform if they fail to update the same, he said.
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“With this new feature, now, 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 per cent local content criteria,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been rooting for the need to make India ‘self reliant’ by investing in indigenous products and push country’s ‘Make in India’ cause.
“The state of the world today teaches us that an Atmanirbhar Bharat “Self-reliant India” is the only path. It is said in our scriptures - EshahPanthahThat is - self-sufficient India,” PM Modi had said last month while announcing the Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package amid the coronavirus crisis.
“We will make the best products, will improve our quality further, make the supply chain more modern, we can do this and we will definitely do it,” the prime minister had said while emphasising on the need to push for indigenous products and local innovations.
“The corona crisis has also explained to us the importance of Local manufacturing, Local market and Local supply chain. In times of crisis, this Local has fulfilled our demand, this Local has saved us. Local is not just the need, it is our responsibility also... Therefore, from today every Indian has to become vocal for their local, not only to buy local products, but also to promote them proudly,” PM Modi had stated.
(With inputs from PTI)
