Public Procurement in India: Assessment of Institutional Mechanism, Challenges, and Reforms

The present study assesses the public procurement system and recent reform initia-tives in India and outlines the need for changes in the institutional frameworks. There are several issues in the public procurement activities in India, which stem from fragmented pro-cedures and rules, lack of transparency, widespread irregularities, and unavailability of suf-ficient procurement professionals. The recent initiatives to establish a consistent and trans-parent public procurement system have not yielded the desired results. The emergence of the practice of e-procurement as a vital tool in integrating the public service delivery and good governance, however, shows some forward movement towards a transparent, accountable, and competitive procurement regime. Although General Financial Rules (GFRs) and other procurement manuals are exhaustive in nature, these need to be backed by legislative power.