An Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is a network-associated set up by Union government’s department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade open protocol that allows local commerce in a segment. In our day-to-day busy lives, we need such a platform to engage all local commerce to create their e-commerce marketplace, such as mobility, grocery, food ordering, etc by working with various agencies, in a single place. It is a non-profit organization that connects and displays products from participating online retailers.
ONDC can become next UPI, says Union IT minster Ashwini Vaishnaw: Can we expand ONDC to make it the next UPI? I request all of you to have a serious look at it. We believe that ONDC can be the next UPI. (Business-Standard, Economic Times)
With this platform, the market will get new opportunities and curb digital monopolies by assisting all types of businesses. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) initiated this concept. But some people are unaware of it. For this reason, below we will help you understand ONDC.
Initially, they have partnered with the Nabard (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) to enable e-commerce in agriculture. It’s currently not open to the public. It’s still running in pilot and is likely to be the final testing.
Everything You Need to Know About ONDC
As the name suggests, “Open Network” for digital commerce means a chain of different businesses over the same segment. This initiative aims mainly to support different types of businesses running in our country. On the other hand, the whole trading industry will be turned into a digital format. However, it is hard to do such a thing, but if it happens, then it will boost the economy as well.
ONDC plans partnerships to develop new solutions: Koshy
We should have a series of plans to help people make use of this opportunity,” said Koshy. “What we’ve done with Nabard is just a first step. We said let’s start with the agriculture sector to help farmers and farmer producer organizations (FPOs) to sell products in the larger market. We identified nine unique problems which can be digitally solved, and organized this hackathon to let people come around with smart solutions,”
Essentially, this is a series of activities in which ONDC, its investors, and ministries are all coming together to enable MSMEs to take advantage of the opportunity being created by ONDC.
An ONDC is just a type of e-commerce that facilitates digital commerce. so that it will move from a platform-centric model to an open network. For this reason, merchants will be able to keep their customers’ data to build credit history and reduce the chances of bad debt. On the other hand, the government proposed ONDC to create a level playing field for other e-commerce giants like Amazon, Flipkart, and more.
Governments is planning to expand it’s operations by additing 75 more citires apart from the six cities Delhi, Bangalore, Bhopal, Comibatore, Lucknow and Shilong by August and to add Categories which includes electronics, garments, home decor, and agriculture products, even to be work with CSCs (Common Services Centre’s) covers 4 Lakh villages across india. Currently, there are 200+ Sellers active with Grocery, and Food and Beverage category.
While we started our pilot projects with retail and food that are difficult last-mile segments, we are now looking to aggressively expand our operations in terms of the number markets we operate in and the entities that are logged in to the network, Our current goal is to focus on smaller entities such as artisans and small retailers and give them market access, Said T Konshy (CEO at ONDC, TOI)
Following this, sellers and buyers can be digitally visible and transact through an open network that lets them reduce unfair trade practices. And, it motivates the honest commerce industry to get digital and enjoy the extreme benefits of digital commerce. One more objective is to standardize operations and increase consumers’ value. Moreover, the ONDC will take different precautions to ensure the confidentiality and privacy of data in the network.
150 entities, including banks, FMCG, and telcos, are working to express the interest. Reportedly, it takes 4 months to sync with the ONDC Protocol. This will give users more choice and the best offers for consumers.
From six cities and seven companies, ONDC to become a fairly large network in the next six months. t’s the first proof that takes time but once all the testing is done and we have verified that the software is able to handle all the use cases, opening it up to everyone will be relatively straightforward. Right now, don’t think of it as a fully operational network. It is operational, but it is in the final testing phase, Said CBO Shireesh Joshi (ONDC’s Chief Business Office, Financial Express)
Also, the government promised to not disclose any information to other third parties. Although the ONDC is presently in the development phase, nine advisory councils have been set up. It includes Nandan Nilekani from Infosys and CEO R S Sharma from NHO for taking different measures to boost the ONDC establishment.
Conclusively, this is a good initiative to boost the Indian economy by supporting all business types. alongside providing a new interface to the country’s different sellers and buyers. It could be interesting to see when the concept starts to apply and work with the country’s assisted businesses.
