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A NITI Aayog initiative under the Aspirational Blocks Programme that markets local products from 500 blocks through the Aakanksha brand on the GeM portal.
Vocal for Local is an initiative of NITI Aayog under its Aspirational Blocks Programme, designed to encourage self-reliance among people in India's least-developed blocks and to move them towards sustainable growth and prosperity. Under it, local products from 500 aspirational blocks have been mapped and consolidated under a single umbrella brand called Aakanksha. A dedicated window for the Aspirational Blocks Programme under the Aakanksha brand has been created on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal, giving these products direct access to government procurement demand.
Type: PolicyImplementing body — NITI Aayog, under the Aspirational Blocks Programme.
Aakanksha brand — an umbrella brand consolidating local products from 500 aspirational blocks, which can be extended into multiple sub-brands with potential for international markets.
GeM window — a dedicated window for the Aspirational Blocks Programme under the Aakanksha brand on the Government e-Marketplace portal.
Partner support — technical and operational assistance for e-commerce onboarding, establishing market linkages, financial and digital literacy, documentation and certification, and skill enhancement.
Objective — to build a spirit of self-reliance and connect producers in underdeveloped blocks to markets they could not otherwise reach.
Frequency: NITI Aayog programmes and government e-procurement appear regularly in UPSC Prelims governance questions and in banking and SSC general awareness.
The initiative works by removing the practical barriers that stop small producers in underdeveloped blocks from reaching buyers, and then pointing them at the largest available buyer — the government itself.
Step 1: Local products across 500 aspirational blocks are identified and mapped.
Step 2: These products are consolidated under a single umbrella brand, Aakanksha, which can be extended into sub-brands.
Step 3: A dedicated Aakanksha window is established on the Government e-Marketplace portal.
Step 4: Partners provide support for e-commerce onboarding, documentation and certification, financial and digital literacy, and skill enhancement.
Step 5: Producers gain access to government procurement demand and wider market linkages through the platform.
NITI Aayog
Policy think tank of the Government of India, which runs the Aspirational Blocks Programme and the Vocal for Local initiative
Government e-Marketplace (GeM)
India's online public procurement platform, launched in 2016, which hosts the dedicated Aakanksha window
Ministry of Commerce and Industry
Parent ministry of the Government e-Marketplace
The design insight here is that market access, not production capacity, is usually the binding constraint for small producers in remote blocks. A weaver or food processor in an aspirational block can make a saleable product but cannot find buyers beyond the local market, lacks the certification that institutional buyers require, and has no route onto an e-commerce platform. Vocal for Local addresses each of these in turn — branding solves recognition, the GeM window solves access, and partner support solves onboarding, certification and skills. Routing the products through government procurement is the strategic part: government demand is large, predictable and already required to favour small enterprises, so it is a more reliable first market than retail. The initiative should be studied alongside the wider push to use public procurement as a development instrument rather than merely as a purchasing function.
Vocal for Local — a NITI Aayog initiative under the Aspirational Blocks Programme.
Aakanksha is the umbrella brand for products from 500 aspirational blocks.
A dedicated Aakanksha window operates on the GeM portal.
GeM was launched in 2016 under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Partner support covers e-commerce onboarding, linkages, financial and digital literacy, certification and skilling.
Aim: self-reliance and sustainable growth in India's least-developed blocks.
NITI Aayog runs it under the Aspirational Blocks Programme, with the aim of encouraging self-reliance and sustainable growth in India's least-developed blocks.
Aakanksha is the umbrella brand under which local products from 500 aspirational blocks have been mapped and consolidated. It can be extended into multiple sub-brands with potential for international markets.
A dedicated window for the Aspirational Blocks Programme under the Aakanksha brand has been created on the Government e-Marketplace portal, giving these products direct access to government procurement demand.
Partners provide technical and operational support for e-commerce onboarding, establishing market linkages, financial and digital literacy, documentation and certification, and skill enhancement.