New Delhi, March 24 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday appreciated Government e Marketplace (GeM) for achieving an annual procurement of Rs 1 lakh crore in Financial Year 2021-22. He also said that Government e Marketplace platform is especially empowering MSMEs, with 57 per cent of order value coming from the MSME sector. “Happy to know that @GeM_India has achieved order value of Rs 1 Lakh Crore in a single year! This is a significant increase from previous years. The GeM platform is especially empowering MSMEs, with 57% of order value coming from MSME sector,” the Prime Minister tweeted. Government e Marketplace is an online platform for public procurement in India. The initiative was launched on August 9, 2016 by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry with the objective to create an open and transparent procurement platform for government buyers. ASU JNA