Notes for owners · Sales management
How to sell on the GeM portal: registration, listing and winning bids
Selling on the GeM portal means registering correctly, listing products buyers can find, pricing honestly, and answering bids fast. Here is how, including medical equipment.
The GullySales team · Updated 15 Sept 2026 · 7 min read
To sell on the GeM portal, register as a seller on the Government e-Marketplace and complete the checks it asks for. List your products or services in the right category, with correct specifications and prices. Then answer the direct orders and bids that government buyers raise. Most first-time sellers register, list a few products, and wait. The ones who win orders treat GeM as a sales channel, with someone responsible for listings, bids and follow-up every day.
What the GeM portal is, and who buys on it
The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is the online portal where public buyers purchase goods and services. They include central ministries and departments, many state bodies and public sector undertakings. Buyers include hospitals, universities, police departments, municipal bodies and public sector companies. For many common items, government buyers are expected to use GeM.
Buyers purchase in a few ways. For lower-value items they can buy directly from a listing. Above that, they may compare several listings, or they run a bid, sometimes followed by a reverse auction. Government rules set the value limit for each route, and the limits change. Check the current ones on the portal, not in older guides.
How to sell on GeM, step by step
- Get your documents in order. PAN, GSTIN, a bank account in the business's name, Udyam registration if you are a micro, small or medium enterprise, and the identity details of the person registering. Keep trademarks, ISO or BIS certificates, and product approvals ready where they apply.
- Register as a seller. Create the seller account, complete the business profile and the verifications the portal asks for, and pay any caution money it requires.
- Complete vendor assessment where required. For some categories, especially for OEMs, the portal asks for a vendor assessment of your manufacturing or service capability.
- Choose categories carefully. Each GeM category has a fixed specification template. Listing in the wrong category means buyers never see you.
- List products with complete specifications. Fill every parameter truthfully, add clear photographs, and state warranty, delivery time and delivery locations.
- Price realistically. Buyers compare, and they are expected to check that a price is reasonable. A GeM price far above what you charge elsewhere is a problem.
- Watch for bids every day. Bids in your categories appear with closing dates. Missing one because nobody logged in is the most common way to lose.
GeM portal medical equipment: the extra checks
GeM portal medical equipment sales carry more checks than most categories, because hospitals buy against clinical specifications.
Medical devices sold in India need whatever licence or registration applies to them under the Medical Devices Rules, 2017. Listings and bids usually ask for those details. Hospitals write bids with detailed technical specifications. Some also ask for installation, training and an annual maintenance contract after the warranty. A reseller will usually need OEM authorisation. Keep device approvals, test reports, service network details and past installations in one document set, because every bid asks for part of it. Check the current requirements for your device class with your regulatory adviser before listing.
Bids: what separates a winning response
| Stage | What to do | What loses the bid |
|---|---|---|
| Read the bid document | Check eligibility, specifications, experience and turnover conditions on day one | Reading it the day before closing |
| Seek clarification | Use the pre-bid query route where offered | Guessing on an unclear specification |
| Prepare documents | Keep a ready library of certificates and past orders | Hunting for a certificate at midnight |
| Price | Know your floor before any reverse auction | Deciding the floor during the auction |
| Submit | A day before closing, not an hour before | Portal delays at the deadline |
| After the result | Record who won and at what price where visible | No record, so the next bid repeats the mistake |
Our RFP and tender management work sets up that document library and the bid calendar.
Selling on GeM is still selling
A listing is not a relationship. Government buyers still talk to suppliers they know. Visit the stores and procurement officers of the hospitals, universities or departments in your region, explain what you supply, and tell them you are on GeM. Deliver on time, because delivery and quality ratings on the portal follow your business. Answer any query from a consignee on the same day.
Be careful and honest. Do not offer anything to a buyer to influence an order, and do not quote prices on GeM that you cannot sustain. Government procurement is audited, and a problem on one order follows you. For a full approach to institutional and government buyers, see our institutional and government sales strategy work.
What does this look like in practice?
For example, take a maker of hospital beds and patient trolleys in Hubballi. The details are illustrative. It registered on GeM, listed four products and received no orders in the first months. The listings sat in a broad category with half the specification parameters empty, and nobody checked for bids.
The owner gave one person the job of GeM for two hours a day. That person moved the listings to the correct categories and filled every parameter, with photographs and warranty details. They built a folder of certificates and past supply orders. They also checked for new hospital furniture bids every morning. The owner then visited the stores officers of district hospitals and medical colleges in north Karnataka to say the products were on GeM. With complete listings and a daily routine, the business stopped missing bids it was eligible for.
What to do next
Open your GeM seller account and look at your listings as a buyer would: category, specifications, photographs, price, delivery. Fill every gap. Then name one person responsible for checking bids every working day. If you want help setting up the government sales process, the bid library and the follow-up with buyers, book the free audit. You will get a written report within a few working days, ranked by what to fix first.