DIPP working on policy to ensure local sourcing in public procurement
The Dollar Business Bureau The government plans to introduce new sourcing norms, which will give preference to local vendors of goods and services in public procurement. In its bid to encourage local manufacturing, DGS&D (Directorate General of Supplies & Disposal) announced that the DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) is in the process of formulating a policy for the same. Preference to local vendors may be stipulated by the new policy in procurement of products or services for various departments of the Central Government via the Government-e-marketplace (GeM). Once finalised, the policy will be implemented on the online marketplace, from where it can be monitored. In many ways, this move is similar to a recent 'Buy American' order signed by the US president to give precedence to American businesses ...
Separate company needed to operate Govt e-Marketplace: Com Min
The Dollar Business Bureau The Commerce Ministry plans to form a separate company for the management of government e-Marketplace (GeM), a platform for the Central Government departments to source office supplies from. In an initiative to make procurement of goods and services by the government transparent, the NDA regime had announced the creation of an online platform for public procurement in Budget 2016-17. Developed jointly by Directorate General of Supplies and Disposal (DGS&D) and National e-Governance Division (NeGD), GeM began full-fledged operations from August 2016. As of January 2017, the government is reported to source more than 7400 products in 150 different categories from the GeM portal. The cashless and paperless public procurement mechanism is aimed at making the Rs. 10,000 crore annual government procurement activity more efficient and digitized. The Ministry ...
Extension of safeguard duty on steel products to aid domestic industry
Domestic steel industry has been making consistent efforts apprising the government to protect domestic industry from increasing imports The Dollar Business Bureau Safeguard investigation on hot-rolled flat products of non-alloy and other alloy steel in coils of a width of 600 mm or more turns a concern for Indias global steel partners Owing to domestic concerns, the Directorate General of Safeguards(DGS) recommended on Wednesday the decision to continue the safeguard duties earmarked for some steel products for two more years, i.e., till March 31, 2018. This decision to continue safeguards has been achieved due to the consistent efforts of the domestic steel industry bodies. These bodies have been pitching for duties on steel imports as a measure to boost and protect the domestic ...
