The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) will ensure that small retailers get an equal opportunity to engage with big firms, protect their businesses and serve customers with modern ways of delivery system, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said.

What is ONDC?

• The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has pioneered the initiative of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).

• ONDC is envisioned to bring together all of India’s e-commerce marketplaces on a single network and empower digital revolution. 

• ONDC aims at promoting open networks developed on open sourced methodology, using open specifications and open network protocols independent of any specific platform.

• The initiative has an objective of reimagining digital commerce with a focus on inclusiveness.

• Today, e-commerce markets work in silos, with each e-commerce platform connecting only its own merchants and customers to each other. ONDC will integrate these closed e-commerce ecosystems and allow each player to be discoverable to a wider market. 

• The network will increase value for all participants by collectively expanding the e-commerce market while retaining its competitive synergies.

• It is expected to digitise the entire value chain, standardise operations, promote inclusion of suppliers, derive efficiencies in logistics and enhance value for consumers.

• As Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is for digital payment domain, and as ‘http’ is for data communication on the World Wide Web, ONDC is intended to become the same for e-commerce in India.

• It will enable buyers and sellers to be digitally visible and transact through an open network, no matter what platform/application they use.

• ONDC received its certificate of incorporation as a private sector non-profit company on December 31, 2021. 

• A number of established companies have integrated with the platform.

• The government has already set up a nine-member advisory council, including Nandan Nilekani from Infosys and National Health Authority CEO R.S. Sharma, on steps required to design and accelerate the adoption of ONDC.

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