Public procurement: Govt’s purchase from small businesses up 3-4% YoY; bought this much in FY21 so far

Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: Public procurement from micro and small enterprises (MSEs) by Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) continued to grow yet marginally by 3-4 per cent year-on-year. From 23.11 per cent in 2017-18, the procurement grew to 26.32 per cent in 2018-19, 30.95 per cent in 2019-20 and 33.01 per cent till date, data from MSME Sambandh portal showed. Encouraging government buying from small businesses is part of the government’s Vendor Development Programmes, which provides a common platform, for buyers and sellers to interact with each other in order to identify emerging demands of buyers and enable small businesses to display their capabilities through products and services.

“Any registered MSEs can participate in Vendor Development Programmes. The Vendor Development Programs (VDPs) are aimed at building the capacity of MSEs and enhancing their participation in the public procurement process,” MoS Ministry of MSME Pratap Chandra Sarangi said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. As on September 17, 2020, 34,755 vendors were registered with CPSEs, according to the data shared by the minister.

The government had earmarked 25 per cent yearly procurement target by MSEs for CPSEs from April 1, 2015, onwards up from 20 per cent earlier, according to the MSME Ministry’s website. A sub-target of 4 per cent from SC/ST owned MSEs and 3 per cent from women-owned MSEs were earmarked out of the 25 per cent target. As on September 22, 2020, the total MSE procurement stood at Rs 9,823 crore from 46,100 MSEs out of which 0.80 procurement worth Rs 237 crore was made from 1,789 SC/ST entrepreneurs owned MSEs while 0.70 per cent procurement of Rs 208 crore was made from 1,115 women-led MSEs. Overall procurement in the current year so far was worth Rs 29,760 crore by 93 CPSEs.

Also read: Delayed payments: Pending MSME dues in August declined by Rs 135 cr; ministries, CPSEs paid this much

Meanwhile, the online public procurement marketplace Government e-Marketplace has enabled transactions worth Rs 63,883 crore so far in over 46.64 lakh orders of which 57.86 order value belonged to MSEs. The marketplace has more than 5.35 lakh sellers out of which over 1.24 lakh are MSEs. The portal had earlier this month said that it is looking to facilitate buyers and sellers through its new Buyer and Seller Incentivisation Programme and would inducted them into ‘Hall of Fame’ with certifications and rewards. The programme aims to “uplift the spirits of buyers and sellers,” GeM had tweeted.