New Delhi, Oct 3 (KNN) A total of 857 start-ups and 1234 MSME sellers have been registered on Government-e-Marketplace (GeM), said Ministry of Commerce & Industry in a release.

With the ongoing national mission drive on GeM, 7 percent more sellers have listed their products in September 2018, it added.

MSME sellers have been awarded 40,000 orders worth Rs 551 crore and in less than 6 months, the transaction volumes have increased from 3.78 lakh (FY 17-18) to 4.31 lakh (FY 18-19).

According to release, 121 new sub categories have been added on the GeM platform, 100 new subcategories got populated giving a wider choice to buyers and 92 new subcategories saw transactions.

The ongoing National Mission has led to an average saving of 25% across categories, said release.

The National Mission on GeM was launched by Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, on 5th of September 2018.

Twenty States and UTs joined the Mission which aims at creating awareness about GeM, train buyers and sellers, get them registered on GeM and increase the procurement through GeM.

This drive has been taken up for the promotion of inclusiveness of all sections of categories of sellers and service providers, highlighting and communicating the value addition in joining GeM, achieving cashless, contactless and paperless transactions, increasing overall efficiency and maximising ease of availability of goods and services.

During this awareness period, a buyer registration drive has been launched for on-boarding and increasing procurement by central, state and local agencies on GeM and a vendor registration drive for on-boarding additional categories and populating the available ones on GeM with more vendors.

Central Ministries, States and their agencies, including local offices, have been tasked with sharing a list of key vendors for registering on GeM and its reach has moved from a Central and State Headquarter level to Sub- district and local body level.