Now, 'country of origin' mandatory for products on govt's e-marketplace

The government on Tuesday said that it is mandatory for sellers to enter the country of origin while registering all new products on Government e-Marketplace (GeM). In addition, the  sellers, who had already uploaded their products before the introduction of this new feature will now have to update the given details. The products shall be removed from GeM if sellers fail to update the same, it noted. Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is a Special Purpose Vehicle under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The development comes days after trader's body CAIT urged Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal to make it mandatory for every e-commerce portal to mention 'country of origin' on each product sold at their platforms, so that buyers can make an informed decision. Most e-commerce portals are selling Chinese goods, about which the consumer remains unaware, said the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which has launched a campaign for boycott of Chinese goods.

"GeM has taken this significant step to promote 'Make in India' and 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'. GeM has also enabled a provision for indication of the percentage of local content in products. With this new feature, now, the Country of Origin as well as the local content percentage are visible in the marketplace for all items," Ministry of Commerce and Industry said.

"'Make in India' filter has now been enabled on the portal. Buyers can choose to buy only those products that meet the minimum 50% local content criteria. In case of Bids, Buyers can now reserve any bid for Class I Local suppliers (Local Content > 50%). For those Bids below Rs 200 crore, only Class I and Class II Local Suppliers (Local content > 50% and > 20% respectively) are eligible to bid, with Class I supplier getting purchase preference," it noted.

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