Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has launched the Saras collection on Government e Marketplace (GeM) portal in New Delhi. The Saras collection showcases daily utility products made by rural self-help groups. It aims to provide market in rural areas with access to Central and State Government buyers.

Our correspondent reports that under the initiative, sellers from Self Help Group will be able to list their products in five product categories. These five categories are handicrafts, handloom and textiles, office accessories, grocery and pantry and personal care and hygiene.

In the first phase, 913 Self Help Groups from 11 States have already registered as sellers and 442 products have been listed. GeM will provide dashboards for functionaries at the national, state, district and block level to provide them real time information about the product, value and volume of the orders.

The platform will reduce human interventions in procurement and enables transparency, cost savings, inclusiveness and efficiency. In order to facilitate the Self Help Groups in uploading of their products, GeM portal assist the sellers in product catalogue management, order fulfilment and bid participation.