The Government e-marketplace (GeM) has inked a pact with the Indian Steel Association to help businesses in the steel sector.
Key Highlights
- GeM has signed an MoU with the Indian Steel Association.
- The pact will help members of the ISA join the GeM portal as sellers.
- This would allow ISA members to meet the government demand generated by infrastructural projects.
The Government e-marketplace (GeM) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Steel Association (ISA), the steel industry body.
The partnership would help onboard the members of the ISA onto the GeM portal as sellers. Currently, the association has 16 members, 7 of which are Executive members, 7 Affiliate members, and 2 Associate members.
Sharing the news on X (formerly Twitter), the official account of the GeM mentioned how the partnership would enable all the members of the Indian Steel Association to join the portal.
It said, “This partnership intends to bring all ISA members onto the GeM platform as sellers, promoting a diverse business environment regardless of their size. The MoU promotes knowledge exchange and direct communication between the two organizations, aiming to improve accessibility for association members to the public procurement market.”
Headquartered in New Delhi, the Indian Steel Association (ISA) represents around 65% of the crude steel production in the country with major players like Tata Steel Limited, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), JSW Steel Limited, and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India being some notable members of the association.
Why is the pact with GeM important for the steel sector?
The Government e-marketplace (GeM) is the portal for public procurement of goods and services.
Designed to make the process of public procurement transparent, the portal is used by various ministries of the government, its departments, Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), and state governments among other instrumentalities of the state for public procurement.
While India has become the second-largest consumer of finished steel in the world, the government expects the per capita steel consumption to increase up to 160 kgs by 2030-31.
A major driver for the demand of steel would be infrastructural projects.
With several schemes and projects in the offing, the ISA could pitch in to capture the demand generated through the portal.
The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) and Gati-Shakti master plan are two of the various projects that generate a considerable demand for steel.
Earlier, the ISA had sought the government’s intervention so as to curb excessive imports of steel from China. In addition, the steel sector may record a slowdown in Steel exports due to the roll-out of the CBAM rules and the global demand slump.
The move thus would ameliorate some concerns of the sector.
