In a bid to put a lid on the market dominance and monopoly practiced by e-commerce giants in India like Amazon and Walmart-backed Flipkart, the Indian government has launched the Open Network for Digital Commerce or ONDC in Bengaluru.
Rolled out to provide a fairground for trade to small businesses and retailers in the country, ONDC is a private non-profit company established by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade of Government of India to develop open e-commerce.
Launched on Sept 30, 2022, the ONDC aims to reduce the dominance of the two multinational e-comm giants that are alleged to restrict market access, reduce supplier margins and favour specific vendors, not leaving any room of profitability for local small-scale business retailers.
The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry addresses the Open Network for Digital Commerce as a ‘democratic’ and cost-effective technology that ‘empowers buyers and small businesses’.
Nearly 20 national organisations have confirmed investments in ONDC worth Rs 255 crore. Some of these lenders include State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda and UCO Bank, among others.
The public finance company Bank of India announced on Sept 27 that it had invested Rs 10 crore in ONDC on a private placement basis, translating to the banking company owning a 5.56% stake in ONDC.
More About ONDC & How Customers Can Use It
Currently launched in Bengaluru, the citizens can shop from an array of product categories and services from a single buyer application of their choice.
To throw some light on this, currently there are three buyer apps available on ONDC. They are PayTm, Spicemoney and Mystore.
Customers can place their orders under two domains on the ONDC network, namely groceries and restaurants through any of the three buyer apps listed on the platform.
The Centre launched the pilot phase of ONDC back in April 2022 in five Indian cities, namely Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Shillong and Coimbatore.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.