LUCKNOW, June 19 -- Uttar Pradesh's active participation on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal was lauded as a model for others by Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal in a letter of praise addressed to chief minister Yogi Adityanath, on Wednesday. Commending the state's commitment to a transparent and efficient public procurement system, the letter noted that between FY 2020-21 and 2024-25, Uttar Pradesh recorded purchases worth Rs 65,227 crore on the GeM portal. The GeM is an online platform designed for transparent procurement of the goods and services required by central and state governments. The letter highlighted that in FY 2024-25 alone, 72 lakh procurement orders were completed on GeM, amounting to Rs 5.43 lakh crore - a new milestone in India's public procurement system. Since its inception, GeM has facilitated more than 2.9 crore orders amounting to over Rs 14 lakh crore. Uttar Pradesh has contributed significantly to this achievement. The platform now includes over 11,000 product categories and more than 330 service categories. The purchases made by UP buyers over the last five fiscal years reflect the state's technical proficiency. Reflecting its commitment, the UP government had issued a comprehensive order on November 26, 2024, to align its procurement rules with the General Financial Rules (GFR) 2017 and GeM's General Terms and Conditions (GTC). This order consolidated various procurement-related notifications into a unified framework, simplifying processes and enabling 100% adoption of GeM in the state....