Govt Will Launch Ecommerce Platform That Can Beat Amazon, Flipkart! Infosys Cofounder Is Leading The Charge..

The co-founded software powerhouse Infosys Ltd, Nandan Nilekani, 66, has one more ambitious goal. 

He is helping Prime Minister Narendra Modi build an open technology network that seeks to level the playing field for small merchants in the country’s fragmented but fast-growing $1 trillion retail market.

Open Technology Network 

The aim is to create a freely accessible online system where traders and consumers can buy and sell everything from 23-cent detergent bars to $1,800 airline tickets. 

After becoming a billionaire, he went on to spearhead a colossal government program to create biometric identification for India’s almost 1.4 billion people.

While the unspoken objective is to eventually curb the powers of Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.-owned Flipkart. 

As their online domination has alarmed small merchants and the millions of local mom-and-pop stores, called kirana, that form the nation’s retail backbone.

Alarming Situation For Kirana Stores

The two ecommerce giants poured a combined $24 billion into India and captured 80% of the online retail market with aggressive discounts and promotion of preferred sellers. 

Now, the kirana shops are fearful of an uncertain future. 

So far, online commerce accounts for just about 6% of the overall retail market.

Still, the kirana shops are anxious they will be eventually snuffed out, meeting a fate similar to many family-owned businesses in the U.S. and elsewhere.

How Does Open Network Work?

Basically, this not-for-profit system, also known as the Open Network for Digital Commerce, or ONDC, seeks to address those concerns.

Interestingly, this system has never been attempted anywhere else before.

Its goal is to allow small merchants and retailers to plug in and gain the reach and economies of scale of giants.

This system will essentially allow the government to create its own ecommerce ecosystem for everyone. 

The platform is designed to loosen the stranglehold of companies like Amazon that dictate which brands get access to prime consumers and on what terms.

While talking about the platform, Nilekani said, “It’s an idea whose time has come,”.

Further adding, “We owe it to the millions of small sellers to show an easy way to participate in the new high-growth area of digital commerce.”

Open Technology Network Launch

Government plans to roll out a pilot of the not-for-profit, government-run network next month to selected users in five cities. 

Banks including ICICI Bank Ltd., state-owned Punjab National Bank and State Bank of India have bought stakes in the entity. 

On this subject, A spokesman for Amazon said they’re trying to better understand the model to see if the Seattle-based company has a role to play. 

The e-commerce grid is expected to help millions of small businesses go online and worry less about the global giants.