ONDC is expected to provide better prices to consumers

The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), an open-source e-commerce platform that all online retailers can use, is expected to be launched soon. Someone having a Google Pay account can send money to another person who uses PhonePe, because both are using the common Unified Payments Interface platform. The government is planning a similar experiment in the e-commerce space, which is currently dominated by Amazon and Flipkart. Open Network for Digital Ecommerce, or ONDC, promises to provide a playing field to small merchants too. The government plans to democratise e-commerce with Open Network for Digital Commerce and end monopolistic practices in India.

ONDC will move Indian ecommerce away from the current platform-centric model. It will do so by making several operational aspects like onboarding of sellers, vendor discovery, price discovery and product cataloguing open source. That will allow more and more traditional retailers to benefit from selling their wares online and compete with large e-commerce firms. All seller and buyer platforms will work through one open protocol and can connect through ONDC. It would provide an open network, and if one has to buy a product, ONDC will show all the options of various platforms for the product, and the consumer can choose what he or she wants.

With the newer technology ONDC will eventually cover everything from clothes to food delivery to mobility. From what we know so far, the ONDC will mean the creation of a separate digital platform with easier processes for onboarding sellers. So, if a buyer is looking for, say, a white shirt, they will find the products hosted on Amazon and Flipkart. And they will also find the white shirt being sold by local shops in their neighbourhood. ONDC is expected to give a leg-up to offline retailers, helping them compete with online sellers, thus boosting hyperlocal deliveries.

For sellers, ONDC will mean their products becoming visible on multiple e-commerce websites without them having to register on each platform separately. It will “democratize" the retail industry in the country and it could end the monopoly of big closed-loop platforms. ONDC is also expected to result in cost savings for sellers and provide better prices to consumers. Innovation has always been a key feature in India, and the combination of knowledge and innovation helps bring disruption, which in turn leads to “much higher growth.

S Mohini Ratna, Editor, VARINDIA