Procurement of goods and services by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) through public buying platform GeM has crossed Rs 1 lakh crore, with about half of it coming in the current financial year. The Government e-Market (GeM) portal was launched on August 9, 2016, for online purchases of goods and services by all central government ministries and departments. "From procurement of general store items like eggs to missile systems and critical defence acquisitions, GeM has helped MoD execute more than 5.47 lakh orders. Of this, transactions worth around Rs 45,800 crore have been awarded in the current financial year," a commerce ministry statement said on Wednesday. It said the defence ministry is the "first" central government entity to cross this figure, exemplifying its resolute commitment towards optimising public spending in the Defence sector," GeM Chief Executive Officer P K Singh said. He added that around 50.7 per cent of the total orders, amounting to Rs 60,593 crore, have been .