From 44% to 10%: The Shrinking Footprint of States on GeM Portal in 5 years

The share of states and union territories (UTs) in procurement through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has plummeted to just 10 per cent in FY25 from nearly half of the total orders five years ago, even as the Centre has consolidated its dominance on the platform.

According to Commerce Ministry data shared in the Lok Sabha by the Minister of State Jitin Prasada, state and UT procurement accounted for 44.5 per cent of total GeM transactions in FY21. This has steadily shrunk every year — to 29.4 per cent in FY22, 21.4 per cent in FY23, 16.4 per cent in FY24, and just 10.5 per cent in FY25. The Centre’s share has correspondingly soared to a record 88.8 per cent in FY25, up from 54.5 per cent in FY21.

The total value of purchases made on GeM since its launch has crossed Rs 14.77 lakh crore as of July 30, 2025. 

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Some smaller states and UTs, including Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Nagaland, have a negligible presence on GeM with zero or 0.01 per cent share. In contrast, Uttar Pradesh, which was the largest state buyer in FY21 with nearly 12 per cent share, has seen its share drop to barely 3 per cent in FY25.

Other states with significant presence on GeM have their share dropped such as Delhi with 3.46 per cent in FY21 to 0.57 per cent in FY25, Gujarat with 4.84 per cent in FY21 to 1.35 per cent in FY25, Madhya Pradesh with 2.43 per cent to 0.33 per cent, Maharashtra with 2.03 per cent to 1.11 per cent, among others.

While the Centre’s procurement volumes have surged on the back of large-scale purchases by central public sector undertakings (PSUs) and ministries, purchases by many states appear to have decreased on the portal even as they may still be procuring through GeM in absolute terms.

Moreover, states have their own online procurement systems for enterprises to submit their bids online.

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Meanwhile, the number of registered sellers on GeM has grown erratically year-on-year. While more than 8 lakh new sellers signed up in FY21, the figure has been declining since, with just over 1.9 lakh in FY25, even as 7.4 lakh sellers had registered during FY24. Yearly new buyer registrations too have stagnated, with 31,000 buyers added every year, except 1.21 lakh buyers added in FY24.

The minister said the portal has undertaken several technology upgrades to improve efficiency and user experience, including AI-enabled chatbot for user query resolution, centralised monitoring for proactive health checks of GeM portal, adoption of automation tools to streamline the deployment process of new features and upgrades, and more.