With ONDC everyone can Trade

ONDC is an open network platform designed to level the digital commerce market in India. A UPI-like open network enables online businesses and sectors like food delivery, hospitality, grocery, etc to engage with their consumers on a single platform.

The government has established an Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) in order to facilitate e-commerce for small firms and break the e-marketplace giants' monopoly. The government's goal of democratizing e-commerce in India gave rise to ONDC.

Open Network for Digital Commerce has already found support from major institutions from retail, and banking to other sectors. Brands like Paytm, Dunzo, PhonePe, FarEye, Microsoft and many more are ready to be players in ONDC integration.

ONDC also is seeing participation eagerness from over 60+ key e-commerce market giants like Reliance, BHIM, Shopperstop, Samsung, ZOHO and many others. The government's new ONDC seeks to overturn this status quo and give control back to small and independent business owners.

The largest benefit is that everyone can join ONDC, even the smallest merchants in the most remote locations. It will help small merchants by guaranteeing that they obtain an equal opportunity to interact with large corporations, serve clients online through e-commerce platforms, and defend their enterprises.

The network is a de facto online commerce inclusivity platform for small merchants, and most importantly, India’s counterweight to the dominance of large investor-fueled online marketplaces and aggregators.

Going forward, anyone who has anything to sell – products or services – will make their catalogs visible on this common network (ONDC), either themselves or through a third-party aggregator or technology service provider.

So, everyone will have trade; there will not be a separate need to have an e-commerce business… Amazon will also exist, Flipkart will also exist, but they will all become part of this common pool. In other words, “E-commerce as an industry is becoming irrelevant.

With this, the Market penetration in digital commerce will increase. Today the buyer’s side is about 4% and the seller’s side is about 1% penetration – this is all going to change. According to the Commerce Department’s India Brand Equity Foundation, the gross value of e-commerce business or the total value of all goods sold online in India, will reach $350 billion by 2030, from about $60 billion in 2021.

Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, President & CEO, VARINDIA