The National Bamboo Mission and the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) have been working together for having a dedicated window on the GeM portal for marketing of the Bamboo Goods (Bamboo based products & Quality Planting Materials). Resultant to the collaboration, a dedicated window “The Green Gold Collection” for bamboo products was launched by the Union Minister of State for Agriculture Shri Parshottam Rupala during a virtual event on 3rd June, 2021 in the presence of Dr. Alka Bhargava, Additional Secretary, Dept of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare,Shri. P.K. Singh, CEO, GeM, Dr. Rajeev Kandpal, CFO, GeM, Smt. Chhavi Jha, Joint Secretary, Dept of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Dr. Ranjit Singh, Director National Bamboo Mission and Shri Anurag Aswathi, Product Manager, GeM. Shri. P.K. Singh provided a Brief overview of GeM and Bamboo market page. The event witnessed participation by 200+ participants, largely bamboo enterprises from across the country.
In his inaugural address the Minister lauded the combined efforts of NBM and GeM to develop the dedicated window for the bamboo products in a very short period of time. The dedicated window will provide an electronic platform for the small manufacturers and niche sellers thereby vastly increasing their reach to attract buyers and at the same time will provide niche products from trusted sources to the buyers, a win-win situation for both. He also appreciated the vast range of products that are being developed from bamboo in the country and opined that the kitchen ware could be a much healthy alternative to the utensils prevalent these days. He reaffirmed that this pan India platform would prove to be very useful for giving the bamboo entrepreneurs a much robust market outreach.
The session also had a close interaction to address the concerns and doubts of the entrepreneurs so as to encourage registration in large numbers.
“The Green Gold Collection” [https://gem.gov.in/national-bamboo-mission], a unique initiative of the National Bamboo Mission and GeM, showcases a range of exquisitely handcrafted bamboo and bamboo products, handicrafts, disposals and office utility products on the GeM portal, and aims to provide bamboo artisans, weavers and entrepreneurs in rural areas with market access to Government buyers. Product categories ranging from bamboo poles to bamboo products in furniture, lifestyle & décor, kitchenware, industrial machinery, handcrafted items such as toys and office utility items like agarbatti/ incense sticks, disposables, water bottles, yoga mats, charcoal, etc. are being uploaded on the portal for Government buyers. This initiative seeks to promote the adoption and use of bamboo products among Government buyers and usher a sustainable rural economy for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat.