Understanding GeM Categories: Products, Services & Works

GeM organizes everything buyable on the portal into three broad groups, and knowing which one your offering falls under shapes almost everything about how you'll sell.

Products cover physical goods with defined specifications — everything from stationery to medical equipment to IT hardware — usually procured through catalog-based direct purchase or bidding.

Services cover a wide range of non-physical offerings — security, housekeeping, manpower, consultancy, and similar categories — often structured around defined service-level parameters rather than a single product spec.

Works is the newer, more specialized category covering contracts involving actual construction, installation, or physical execution work, which tends to carry more detailed eligibility and documentation requirements than standard product or service listings.

Choosing the right category for your listing affects which buyers see you, which purchase mode applies, and what documentation you'll need — it's worth getting this classification right from the start rather than correcting it later.

Frequently Asked Questions