New Delhi: The integration of India’s postal system India Post and Common Service Center (CSC) with the government’s e-commerce portal Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is finally operational. 

Piyush Goyal, the minister of commerce, launched the initiative on Wednesday to enable last-mile (rural/village-level) government purchasers, service providers, and sellers, notably women and tribal entrepreneurs, self-help groups [SHGs], artisans, and weavers in the public procurement process.

The launch occurs around seven months after GeM and India Post signed a memorandum of understanding in May of this year, which was followed by India Post's integration with GeM.

India Post can now offer logistical services to buyers and sellers using GeM in the most distant regions of the nation thanks to the integration and MoU. On the other hand, the commerce ministry reported that more than 5.2 lakh Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLE) under CSC-Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and roughly 1.5 lakh India Post Office (PO-CSC) operators throughout India are being trained to help buyers with buyer registration and sellers and service providers with seller registration in addition to product cataloguing and uploading, management, order acceptance, fulfilment, and invoice generation functionality on the GeM portal.

Goyal announced the implementation at the ceremony and stated, "We are democratising GeM further with its connection with Common Service Centers & India Post."

CSC is the government's multiple-services-one-point model for offering amenities including basic public utility services, social welfare programmes, healthcare, finance, etc. at a single physical place, and CSC e-Governance Services India Limited is the SPV business that the government established in 2009 to manage CSC model implementation.

"India Post integration will be beneficial, particularly for micro merchants who struggle to obtain government orders since there aren't sufficient packing and delivery options available to send orders to every corner of the nation. The delivery barrier would be removed for such sellers because India Post operates in the country's remote interior as well, GeM CEO Prashant Kumar Singh had previously told FE Aspire. The vendors themselves have been in charge of the delivery thus far.

The Department of Posts will also make sure that boxes, tapes, bubble wrap, flyers, and air bags from India Post are available at the closest post offices for CSCs, according to the government's announcement. The department will also assure priority processing of all GeM-labeled items and simplify the collection, transmission, and delivery of Speed Post and Business Parcel.

ALSO READ: India records 5.62 lakh tonnes of sugar exports in FY22-23: AISTA