New Delhi, Feb 27 (IANS): The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is set to close the fiscal year ending March 2024 with sales of Rs 4 lakh crore to the government from the turnover of Rs 422 crore in its first year of operation, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal, said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the ‘Startup Mahakumbh’ curtain-raiser event in the national capital, the Union minister said the GeM now has over 23,000 registered startups doing business with the government.

GeM, created in a record time of five months, facilitates online procurement of common use goods and services required by various government departments, organisations and PSUs.

“The Government e-Marketplace is a startup itself. It started after ‘Startup India',” the minister told the gathering.

The government is geared up to organise the first-ever 'Startup Mahakumbh', a celebration of homegrown startups, at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi from March 18-20.

The minister further said that youngsters coming out of colleges today are not job seekers but “want to be job creators”.

“This can-do spirit is what we will be reflecting at the ‘Startup Mahakumbh’," Piyush Goyal mentioned to startup leaders and community at the event.

The event is expected to host over 1,000 startups, more than 10 thematic tracks, over 1,000 investors, more than 500 incubators and accelerators.

GeM aims to enhance transparency, efficiency and speed in public procurement. It provides the tools of e-bidding, reverse e-auction and demand aggregation to facilitate the government users, achieve the best value for their money.