Government e-Marketplace (GeM) lenders ask for support

Lenders who have granted loans to small scale businesses on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) have approached the platform to seek support to ensure a strong repayment system is enforced.

The GeM offers a ‘GeM Sahay’ service to enable cash flow based lending to small and medium enterprises made against government purchases made on the GeM portal. This pilot programme provided micro, small, and medium enterprise suppliers with digital purchase order financing by a remote lender with a competitive interest rate. However, now some of the lenders feel the need for a more robust repayment system, ET Retail reported.
 
“When lenders dispersed money, they also needed repayment routed through GeM,” an anonymous industry source told the Economic Times. “GeM did not follow through with the repayment process, which led to some accounts becoming delinquent. Lenders measure their exposure based on outstanding payments, which is always changing.”
 
Following the GeM Sahay pilot, the platform is gearing up to launch GeM Sahay 2.0 in the near future. This will feature new technology and a new service provider: Perfios Software Solutions.
 
The Government e-Marketplace is an online platform on which numerous government agencies can procure goods ranging from apparel to materials along with services. The portal was established in 2016 and is designed to help small and medium sized businesses to fulfil government orders more easily to boost their business.