Pariksha SaathiGeM promotes 'The AABHAR Collection': 294 product listings from 10 State and Central handloom and handicraft emporiums
The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is promoting 'The AABHAR Collection', a dedicated digital storefront of curated gift items and hampers reflecting India's cultural heritage, with products associated with the One District, One Product (ODOP) initiative and Geographical Indication (GI) tags, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said on 26 October 2026. The collection has 294 product catalogue listings from 10 State and Central Handloom and Handicraft Emporiums: COTTAGE (Central Cottage Industries Emporium), KHADI INDIA (Khadi and Village Industries Commission), Garvi Gurjari (Gujarat), Himcrafts (Himachal Pradesh), Jharcraft (Jharkhand), Cauvery (Karnataka), Mrignayani (Madhya Pradesh), Marhati (Maharashtra), Purbashree (North East) and Poompuhar (Tamil Nadu); seven more government emporiums and organisations are at an advanced stage of seller onboarding. Launched in July 2024, the collection gives Ministries, Departments, PSUs and other government buyers gifting options for official ceremonies, conferences, foreign delegations and festive occasions while supporting artisans, weavers, rural entrepreneurs and women-led enterprises. Mihir Kumar is the Chief Executive Officer of GeM.
Drafted with AI assistance from the official PIB release linked above and checked against it by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
The Government launched the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) on 9 August 2016 as a unified, end-to-end digital platform through which government buyers procure goods and services; it was developed after studying public procurement systems in countries such as the United States and South Korea. GeM connects more than 1.37 lakh government buyer organisations with nearly 25 lakh sellers and service providers, with cumulative procurement worth over ₹20 lakh crore. Its dedicated initiatives include Womaniya, which showcases products made by women entrepreneurs and women self-help groups, and the SARAS Collection, which showcases daily utility products made by rural self-help groups.
Reference: PIB Backgrounder, 'Where Every Purchase Finds a GeM', 8 August 2026
Check yourself: when was GeM launched, and which GeM initiative showcases daily utility products made by rural self-help groups?
On 9 August 2016; the SARAS Collection.
Revision task: from this release, note what the AABHAR Collection is, the number of listings and emporiums, which state each emporium belongs to and when the collection was launched; from the note, when GeM was launched, its scale and its Womaniya and SARAS initiatives.
Test yourself
Which of the following emporium-state pairs, from the sellers in GeM's 'AABHAR Collection' (as listed in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry's release of 26 October 2026), is correctly matched?
Show the answer
Answer: Mrignayani - Madhya Pradesh
Mrignayani is the Madhya Pradesh emporium. The others in the collection are Garvi Gurjari (Gujarat), Cauvery (Karnataka), Jharcraft (Jharkhand), Himcrafts (Himachal Pradesh), Marhati (Maharashtra), Purbashree (North East) and Poompuhar (Tamil Nadu), along with COTTAGE and KHADI INDIA.
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