Director General Border Roads Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhry told the Anti-Corruption Working Group Meeting (ACW) of G20 that there are immense benefits in using the e-marketplace for procurement as it leads to reduced costs, brings in efficiency and transparency, and minimises human interaction in financial dealings.

Sharing the experience of using the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), which is mandatory for government departments for procurement, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) chief told the international gathering that he used the e-tool to even procure steel and cement to construct road infrastructure, besides hiring vehicles, equipment and plant. The purchases through the e-platform has tripled from the last year, he pointed out.

“As a result of persistent efforts, this year BRO has achieved ₹1,600 crore GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) in just 11 months against six year for the first ₹1,600 crore,” Lt Gen Chaudhry said at the meeting attended by over 90 delegates from 20 member countries, 10 invitee countries and nine international organisations.

Some of the benefits, according to the Lt Gen, are: “33 per cent reduction in timelines for acquisition, 20% price reduction vs average original L1 bid-price using GeM on account of reverse auction leading to savings, 15-18 per cent overall reduction in cost and lastly, reinvesting the money saved on this account back into the economy by constructing more projects, thereby ushering in prosperity”.

Fighting corruption

Department of Personnel and Chair of the meeting, Rahul Singh stated that considerable progress has been made in discussing the High-Level Principles on improving information sharing for fighting corruption and related economic crimes, strengthening asset recovery mechanisms related to corruption and related economic crimes, strengthening law enforcement cooperation for action against corruption and related economic crime, and promoting integrity and effectiveness of public bodies responsible for preventing and combating corruption.

Italy strongly supported India’s agenda at the meeting, with Giovanni Tartaglia Polcini, Head of Task Force and Co-chair, said there is a need to engage with civil society and the business community, as part of a multi-stakeholder approach that is required to effectively fight against corruption. At the three-day meet, intensive and productive deliberations were held on several key focal areas pertaining to asset recovery, fugitive economic offenders, information sharing, institutional frameworks for combating corruption and mutual legal assistance, said the government in a statement.

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