India SME Forum Launches Landmark Digital Procurement Report Covering 27,000+ MSMEs

Union Minister of State for MSME and Labour & Employment, Sushree Shobha Karandlaje, officially unveiled the ‘Digital Bharat: India Digital Procurement Report 2026’ in New Delhi. Developed by the India SME Forum (ISF) using the proprietary MSME Procurement Economy Model (MPEM) built on official Udyam Registration data, this study is one of India’s most comprehensive analyses of MSME procurement behavior and digital adoption. Covering over 27,000 registered MSMEs across manufacturing, services, and trading sectors out of India’s 515.3 lakh Udyam-registered enterprises, the report estimates the nation’s MSME procurement economy at a massive INR 124.9 trillion, establishing it as one of the country’s largest business expenditure categories.

Platform Preferences and Industry Benchmarking:
The survey evaluated several service providers and digital platforms based on user preference, pricing transparency, supplier quality, and overall buyer experience:

Price Transparency: Amazon Business emerged as the leader, with 37.3% of respondents citing it as their preferred choice.

Supplier Quality: Amazon Business also ranked first, with 32.6% selecting it for offering the best supplier network.

Industrial Procurement & Finance: Moglix established leadership in industrial procurement and embedded finance, catering to the specific demands of manufacturing MSMEs.

Overall Satisfaction: For overall buyer experience including ease of use and customer support Amazon Business and Moglix jointly received the highest satisfaction rating of 9.5 out of 10.

Wider Ecosystem: The report notes that services like Meesho, OfBusiness, Udaan, Flipkart Business, IndustryBuying, IndiaMART, and Jumbotail play vital roles in serving diverse procurement needs across the MSME spectrum.

Key Insights from Government and Industry Leaders:
Minister Sushree Shobha Karandlaje: Stated that MSMEs form the backbone of a self-reliant economy and urged that procurement evolve from a routine operational task into a strategic capability to improve efficiency and lower costs. She congratulated Amazon Business for emerging as a preferred partner.

Mitranjan Bhaduri (Amazon Business India): Highlighted that 4 in 5 MSMEs expecting digital procurement to drive growth signals a transformational shift, noting Amazon Business’s ongoing commitment to investing in selection, services, and AI-powered automation.

Shri Ateesh Kumar Singh (DPIIT): Emphasized that public procurement for MSMEs requires continuous reform, addressing enforcement gaps, restrictive eligibility criteria, and expanding quality- and cost-based selection (QCBS) alongside consultative policymaking.

Shri Keshvendra Kumar (IAS, Ministry of MSME): Noted that building a collaborative procurement ecosystem among government bodies, digital platforms, and industry is essential for small business productivity and sustainable growth.

Vinod Kumar (India SME Forum): Highlighted that the INR 124.9 trillion procurement economy is a massive opportunity for digital transformation, urging a shift from occasional online purchases to fully integrated, data-driven procurement powered by industry collaboration and policy support.

Detailed Survey Findings and Operational Challenges:
Spending Scale: Over 75% of surveyed MSMEs spend between ₹10 lakh and ₹1 crore monthly on procurement, though only 30–40% of this spend currently flows through digital channels.

Decision-Making: 64.5% of procurement decisions are still taken directly by business owners, emphasizing that digital tools must prioritize simplicity and accessibility.

Operational Hurdles: Price volatility (55.7%) remains the biggest challenge, followed by managing multiple suppliers (37.6%), payment and credit constraints (35.6%), and the absence of a single dependable vendor (33.4%).

Decision Factors: GST-compliant invoicing (45.0%), wider product selection (43.3%), ease of ordering (43.1%), faster delivery (40.3%), and flexible payment/credit facilities (49.9%) heavily influence digital adoption.

Future Intentions: Four in five enterprises (80.4%) anticipate that digital procurement will expand their business over the next three years. Furthermore, raw materials (68.7%) and machinery & equipment (61.3%) top the list of products MSMEs want to procure online in the future.

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI): Approximately 59.5% of MSMEs stated that GST-compliant invoicing strongly influences their choice of service, proving that India’s DPI stack (Aadhaar, UPI, and GST) directly enables procurement digitization.

Looking ahead, the report notes that 61.5% of MSMEs plan to increase their use of digital tools and 49.7% expect to adopt AI-powered solutions over the next two years, positioning India as a global leader in digital procurement and manufacturing innovation.