Context

Government e Marketplace (GeM) and Competition Commission of India (CCI)entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to enable a fair and competitive environment in the e-Marketplace and rectify the malpractices such as cartelization.

About

Government e Marketplace?

• GeM is a state-of-the-art national public procurement platform of Ministry of Commerce and Industries that has used technology to remove entry barriers for bonafide sellers and has created a vibrant e-marketplace with a wide range of goods and services.
• 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.
• The purchases through GeM by Government users have been authorised and made mandatory by Ministry of Finance.

Competition Commission of India

• Competition Commission of India is a statutory body, responsible for enforcing the Competition Act, 2002 throughout India.
• It is the duty of the Commission to eliminate practices having adverse effect on competition, promote and sustain competition, protect the interests of consumers and ensure freedom of trade in the markets of India.
• The Commission is also required to give opinion on competition issues on a reference received from a statutory authority established under any law and to undertake competition advocacy, create public awareness and impart training on competition issues.