New Delhi, Jun 17 (KNN) In a bid to address the credit access challenges faced by MSMEs, Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is launching ‘SAHAY’, a mobile application to help the MSME sellers listed on the GeMSAHAY app get instant loans.

"To address the credit access challenges faced by MSMEs, the latest functionality also being rolled out specially for SMEs is the GeMSAHAY app," Ministry of Commerce & Industry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The #GeMSAHAY initiative paves way for frictionless financing by leveraging fintech. MSEs can now get a loan at the point of acceptance of an order on the #GeM platform. It will help in meeting the working capital needs and ensure “access to finance” for MSEs, the statement added.

GeM is collaborating with the Indian Software Product Industry Round Table (iSPIRT), a non-profit tech think tank’s volunteer team for the implementation of the GeM- SAHAY project, which has been tailored to meet the specific needs of MSMEs on the GeM platform.  Sellers applying for the loan facility will experience a seamless end to end digital experience with a mobile application

Speaking to media, Secretary, department of Commerce, Government of India Dr Anup Wadhawan said that presently GeM has over 6,90,000 MSE sellers and service providers onboard contributing over 56 per cent of the total order value on GeM, which is a testament to GeM’s success in not only onboarding but also engaging with the MSEs to help them participate in public procurement.

''The number of MSEs registered on the GeM platform has increased by over 62 per cent since the last FY (2019-20). And this is a tremendous achievement- considering that there were only around 3000 MSMEs in FY 2016-17,'' he added.

In order to promote local products through the “Vocal for Local” initiative, the Government has made it mandatory for all sellers on GeM to list the Country of Origin while registering products, the ministry said.

GeM has also started highlighting the Local Content on the product description page prominently. So even within the products made in India, buyers can identify products that have higher local content.

GeM is an online platform for public procurement. It was launched on August 9, 2016 by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. All public sector agencies are mandated to directly purchase common-use goods and services through the online portal.

"Since its inception, GeM has facilitated 67.27 lakh orders worth 111,113 Crores from 18.85 lakh registered sellers and service providers for 52,275 Govt buyers," the ministry said.

GeM CEO Prashant Kumar Singh said Process of integrating with railways procurement platform is ongoing. It’s a complicated process but once done will lead to Rs 50,000 crore worth of additional procurement to GeM."

He said that testing is ongoing before the integration happens adding that Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has suggested that panchayats be also pushed to buy from GeM.