13th BRICS Education Ministers' meeting concludes with Declaration (See 'Corp Brief') IEPFA organises Stakeholder Engagement with Nodal Officers of Companies on Portal 2.0 (See 'Corp Brief') SARFAESI - Any tenancy created after issuance of notice u/s 13(2) without prior written consent of secured creditor, is void ab initio: HC National Handloom Day celebrates Tribal Weaves of India (See 'Corp Brief') SECL leads India in Scientific Mine Closure, Transforming abandoned Mines (See 'Corp Brief') IBC - RBI prudential norms stopping banks from recognising interest income on NPA accounts do not wipe out borrower's obligation to accrue & recognise interest expense in its own financial statements: NCLAT (See 'Legal Desk') Sowa-Rigpa must emerge as Globally Recognised Evidence-Based Healthcare System: Jadhav (See 'Corp Brief') Insurance Division, DFS secures 3rd Rank in Group A Category of Grievance Redressal (See 'Corp Brief') IPR - Registration of defendant's trademark does not bar passing off action where plaintiff establishes prior goodwill, misrepresentation and likely damage: HC (See 'Legal Desk') IndiaAI Mission organised AIKosh Univ Engagement Programme at Chitkara Univ (See 'Corp Brief') A&C - In international commercial arbitration seated in India, ground of ‘patent illegality' u/s 34(2A) is expressly excluded: HC (See 'Legal Desk') Comprehensive measures taken to boost digital infrastructure & cyber security: Jitin Prasada (See 'Corp Brief') Misc - A minor admitted to benefits of partnership firm is not personally liable for debts or liabilities incurred by firm during age of minority - ergo, bank communication declaring minor as wilful defaulter is invalid: HC (See 'Legal Desk') IPC showcases India's Regulatory Excellence at WHO Meeting in Nepal (See 'Corp Brief') Companies Act - Solely because a private bank carries on banking operations as scheduled bank or is bound to follow regulatory guidelines issued by the RBI, it does not acquires character of a statutory body: HC (See 'Legal Desk') GI & Beyond 2.0 Summit showcases India's GI-tagged Handloom and Handicraft Products (See 'Corp Brief') IPR - Test for 'efficacy' u/s 3(d) of Patents Act is not limited to 'therapeutic efficacy' for all substances: HC (See 'Legal Desk') CCI approves combination of many entities into InterGlobe Hotels (See 'Corp Brief') IPR - U/s 9(1)(a) of Trade Marks Act, correct legal test is whether applied mark possesses 'distinctive character', means if it is capable of distinguishing applicant's goods from those of others - YES: HC (See 'Legal Desk') House Panel deliberates on strengthening Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation through Technology (See 'Corp Brief') IBC - Private bank's commercial decision on debt assignment or settlement, even if regulated by RBI norms, remains private banking transaction and does not satisfy function test for writ maintainability: HC (See 'Legal Desk') PM-PRANAM Promotes Balanced Use of Fertilizer, Organic Farming (See 'Corp Brief') IPR - In absence of evidence showing acquired distinctiveness or secondary meaning, descriptive mark could not validly remain on Register: HC (See 'Legal Desk') On International Clouded Leopard Day, India strengthens Conservation through Dedicated Action Plan (See 'Corp Brief') Limitation - Single Judge rightly declined to exercise writ jurisdiction in a matter which essentially involves contractual obligations & involves disputed issues of fact: HC (See 'Legal Desk') Tete-a-tete around AI in banking sector often begins with algorithms (See CORP EINSICHT)

GeM Samvaad - Users share feedback & inputs

Published: Jan 17, 2020

By TIOLCorplaws News Service

NEW DELHI, JAN 17, 2020: GeM Samvaad, a two month long national outreach programme was launched on December 17, 2019 to reach out to stakeholders across the country and also local sellers in order to facilitate on-boarding of local sellers on the marketplace while catering to specific requirements and procurement needs of buyers. The outreach programme took off from December 19, 2019 and during the launch week the States of Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh were covered.

GeM Samvaad is being conducted in all States and Union Territories. After the first four states the outreach programme has been held in J&K on January 05, Ladakh on January 07, Assam and Bihar on January 09 and in Chandigarh on January 08, 2020. All the outreach programmes witnessed overwhelming participation of buyers and sellers. GeM senior officers are steering the programmes. They are also interacting with buyers and sellers attending the events. Arrangements for the outreach programmes including logistics are made by the respective State Governments. The target is to reach out to all stakeholders and learn from their experiences on their usage of GeM portal. Through this outreach programme, GeM expects to make the actual users aware about the new features and functionalities of the portal and collect feedback, which is the first step towards GeM's 'Voice of Customer' initiative.

A Roundtable with Ministries/Departments & Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) was held on January 14, 2020 in New Delhi as part of GeM Samvaad. It was chaired by Secretary, Department of Commerce, Government of India and CEO GeM. More than 100 participants including Financial Advisors & nodal officers of Ministries, Departments, and representatives of CPSEs participated in the Roundtable and shared their feedback, challenges and suggestions.

The Commerce Secretary highlighted the need for full utilization of the potential of GeM. He stated that Rule 149 of GFR and directives of the Department of Public Enterprises make the procurement of goods and services by Ministries and CPSEs mandatory for goods and services available on GeM and the same should not be violated. The GeM is continuously working to bring all the items on-board and buyers should accelerate this process by providing specifications of categories and asking sellers to onboard GeM. He further emphasized the importance of timely payments to sellers and stated that buyers should ensure payments to sellers on time.

State Departments and Organizations and Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) have been using GeM for their buying needs. Sellers from the States are also benefitting through the access to national Public Procurement market using the portal. Through GeM Samvaad the marketplace is looking forward to receiving feedback from users which will be used for making improvements and advancements in the system.

GeM has more than 15 lakh products and around 20,000 services, more than 3 lakh registered sellers and service providers and more than 40,000 Government buyer organizations. In its short journey of three years, GeM has processed more than 28 lakh orders worth Rs 40,000 crores in Gross Merchandise Value out of which 50% has been transacted by MSMEs.

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