Government's e-commerce portal directs sellers to specify product's country of origin

The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) on Tuesday made it mandatory for sellers to specify the country of origin while registering all new products on the marketplace. Moreover, all sellers who have already added their products on the marketplace have been asked to update the country of the origin and a warning has been issued stating that products will be delisted if the country of origin is not updated.

The move assumes significance as the Centre has been trying to push the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' campaign to promote locally-produced goods and the growing chorus against goods sourced from China in the backdrop of India-China border clash.

The government, in a release dated June 23, has said the decision has been taken to promote ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. In addition to the country of origin, the e-marketplace has a provision where sellers can list the percentage of local content in products. With this new feature, now, the country of origin, as well as the local content percentage, are visible in the marketplace for all items.

"A ‘Make in India’ filter has also been enabled on the portal. Buyers can choose to buy only those products that meet the minimum 50 percent local content criteria," the Commerce and Industry Ministry said.