New Delhi: The Government e-Marketplace (GeM), India’s national public procurement portal under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, has entered into a strategic partnership with Common Service Centre e-Governance Services India Limited (CSC-SPV) to expand government procurement opportunities across the country, with a special focus on rural and underserved regions.
The partnership was formalised through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on June 18, 2026, at the GeM Office in New Delhi.
The agreement is aimed at strengthening access to government procurement opportunities by enhancing seller support services and improving participation from enterprises located in rural and semi-urban areas.
The MoU marks a significant expansion of the GeM-CSC collaboration that began in 2022. While the earlier agreement primarily focused on facilitating seller registration and profile creation, the new framework adopts a more comprehensive and outcome-oriented approach by supporting sellers throughout the onboarding journey, including catalogue listing.
Under the expanded collaboration, sellers will receive facilitation for Vendor Assessment, Brand Approval, and Product and Service Catalogue creation and publication.
These initiatives are designed to help businesses navigate onboarding requirements more effectively, improve conversion rates from registration to active listings, and strengthen participation in government procurement opportunities.
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A key component of the partnership is the establishment of 50 GeM Suvidha Kendras (GSKs) on a pilot basis through the CSC network.
These centres will be launched across select states, including Delhi-NCR, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana and West Bengal.
The GeM Suvidha Kendras will function as dedicated facilitation hubs where sellers and service providers can access guidance, training, onboarding assistance and support related to GeM processes.
The initiative is expected to improve awareness and accessibility of government procurement opportunities among enterprises operating in diverse regions of the country.
Apart from awareness generation and registration support, the centres will also focus on capacity building and grievance redressal.
They will provide local-level handholding assistance to micro and small enterprises (MSEs), women entrepreneurs, SC/ST entrepreneurs, startups, artisans, weavers, Self-Help Groups (SHGs), Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), local manufacturers and other emerging enterprises seeking access to government procurement opportunities.
The pilot initiative will be evaluated for expansion to additional States and Union Territories based on outcomes and stakeholder feedback.
The earlier collaboration between GeM and CSC helped establish a strong seller ecosystem, with approximately 5.3 lakh sellers completing registration and profile creation through the CSC network.
Building on this achievement, the enhanced partnership aims to strengthen GeM’s last-mile presence, improve onboarding outcomes, increase catalogue availability, and make government procurement opportunities more accessible, inclusive and user-friendly for enterprises across India.
The MoU was signed by Ajit B. Chavan, Additional Chief Executive Officer, GeM, and Subodh Mishra, Senior Vice President, CSC-SPV.
