Signalling intent: On Federal government e-Marketplace

The Centre’s choice to make it compulsory for suppliers on the Federal government e-Marketplace (GeM) procurement platform to specify the country of origin of new items listed by them is on the face of it unexceptionable, aimed as it is at promoting India-made goods. Apart from the place of manufacture, the platform’s administrators have actually likewise looked for information on the degree of local material and set guidelines on the percentage of localisation for making it possible for procurement in the case of bids of a specified worth. The timing and thrust of the announcement– set in the background of the government’s new-found push for self-reliance in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastatin