India’s Procurement Strategy For Economic Muscle

As India moves forward with its “Make in India” campaign to promote economic strength and a more robust standing in the global market, government officials are taking a refreshed look at public procurement and its role in those goals.

Reports in The Economic Times of India on Friday (Nov. 13) said the administration of Prime Minister Modi has taken a new look at an earlier-introduced public procurement bill. Now dubbed the “Public Procurement Bill, 2015,” the legislation would aim to increase transparency in public procurement as well as promote free trade talks with other nations, reports said.

[bctt tweet=”Indian Prime Minister Modi takes a new look at an earlier-introduced procurement bill.”]

Policymakers have looked to make alterations to the bill that further promote “Make in India” as well. Reports said the bill will likely be introduced into parliament this winter.

Within the bill is language that would streamline the public procurement process for contracts under a certain value, as well as ease guidelines that determine which businesses can participate in the bidding process.

Reports said there are also provisions that would ease punishment for those found to have accepted bribes. Other changes include the replacement of a three-member committee by a single-member panel to oversee the grievance redress process.

The first version of the Public Procurement Bill was first introduced in 2012, also with the goals of promoting transparency and competition in the public procurement process. Analysts said that the rules would align with Modi’s efforts to strengthen the economy; according to reports, public procurement accounts for nearly one-third of the nation’s GDP.

Earlier this year reports emerged suggesting the widespread success of B2B procurement in India. Digital procurement firm cloudBuy told reporters in August that it anticipates between $3 billion and $5 billion worth of B2B transactions over its platform directly from Indian businesses.

To check out what else is HOT in B2B, click here.