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In the middle of complaints from scientists to non -standard equipment affecting their research, the Ministry of Finance turned away by limiting the scientific laboratories acquired by equipment through a circle issued on Thursday, June 5, 2025).
The first significant change was to enable associated scientific institutions to bypass the government e-Trh (GEM), the initiative of the Ministry of Commerce, which was to prefer equipment in India. Existing standards require all government purchases – from laptops to furniture – to be carried out with the cheapest retailer identified through the GEM portal.
As Hind had previously reported, it was often an accident block for scientists who required adapted equipment that corresponds to high quality standards to replicate experiments. Dealers of gem, scientists said Hindu, often could not meet such standards. To award public procurement outside the GEM universe, scientists had to find out that the necessary goods were not available on the spot. This often led to the delay and compromise on research goals.
Thursday (5th June 2025) notifications allowed the directors of selected institutes and vice-chairmen of the Chancellor or Chancellor of Universities to create “NGO E-trh awarding scientific equipment and consumables”.
The director of the leading Biological Institute, which refused to be identified, said that “can hardly believe” that the government has released orders through GEM in a “only stroke”. “It was the main demand of the scientific community and restrictions stored after 2019. It is a positive development and should significantly alleviate research and development,” he told the Hinda. “This goes back to how orders happened in front of a gem where the heads of the institute had more autonomy.”
The circle 5 June also allows the heads of scientific institutions to be approved by “global request for a selection procedure” (GTE) up to 200 crore. Previously, the Secretary of the Ministry – such as the head of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Biotechnology Department or the Ministry of Sciences (MOE), were issued to this permit. This usually led to the “accumulation” of requests and concurrent delays of public procurement, the scientist said in one of the Ministry of Hind.
The circular also doubled the ceiling to goods that can be obtained by scientific departments without quotes from 1 lakh to 2 lakh. At the Purchase Committee, the ceiling was increased from 10 lakh to 25 lakh and the upper limit was increased from 50 lakh to Crore 1. These limits were also revised in July 2024 and reflect inflation while allowing scientific institutions more control at local level when selecting suitable retailers.
However, all these concessions are strictly for scientific equipment and consumables and are merely for organizations associated with the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Department of Atomic Energy and the Universe, the Indian Council for Medical Research, the Indian Council for Agricultural Research and Educational Institutions within various ministers.
Minister of Science Jitendra Singh has published on X that this is a “approximate” step. “This will reduce the delay, also increase autonomy and flexibility for research institutions – it will seize them to faster innovations.” He scored the Prime Minister Narendra Modim for “transformation reform”.
Published – June 7, 2025 9:01
