Indian minister Piyush Goyal invites e-com companies to join ONDC

Goyal, Union minister of commerce and industry, consumer affairs, food and public distribution, and textiles, mentioned that ONDC will promote local languages, products, and cultural heritage, and create opportunities for small businesses. He said that small artisans and workers can offer better quality through ONDC and also earn better without having to pay commission for their products. He emphasised that ONDC will foster healthy competition, benefit consumers, and contribute to the overall growth of the digital commerce ecosystem in India, India’s ministry of commerce and industry said in a press release.

The minister said that monolithic e-commerce platforms will never be able to provide the kind of services that a network of platforms like ONDC can offer. He emphasised on the need to create systems that benefit everyone and create opportunities for all. He said that the efforts are being undertaken to ensure that e-commerce becomes an engine of growth that empowers both buyers and sellers.

Goyal highlighted that ONDC will provide a much larger market for sellers, without any preferred or priority sellers, ensuring equitable and fair treatment for all stakeholders. He said that ONDC will foster economies of scale, competition, and better pricing and quality, ultimately benefiting consumers. He said that the need for alternate ways to address challenges of the e-commerce ecosystem, while balancing the interests of small retailers and businesses led to the evolution of ONDC.

The minister outlined the unique features of ONDC, which aims to provide a win-win solution for both buyers and sellers. He said that ONDC, with its concept of using interfaces between various platforms, will open up more options for buyers, enhance price discovery and market opportunities for sellers, and also empower consumers to make informed choices. He said that this will result in more competition in the market and will not be limited through algorithms. He emphasised that ONDC will enable speedy, efficient, and real-time settlement of transactions, catering to hyperlocal and global needs simultaneously.

During his address, the minister said that Enabling Bharat 2.0 converges with the commitment of making India a developed nation by 2047. He said that digital public infrastructure is the need of the hour.

Goyal cited the success of initiatives like the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in the financial services sector, which has brought about a transformational journey and encouraged hundreds of fintech companies to innovate and promote financial inclusion. He said that UPI has brought about innovation in the fintech sector at a pace never seen before and promoted startups and unicorns through socialising valuation. He drew parallels with ONDC, which is based on a similar concept of interoperable interface, opening up more options for buyers and creating more competition, while providing ease of operation for sellers across multiple platforms and also providing them a bigger market.

The Enabling Bharat 2.0 workshop has been organised to find potential synergies and deepen collaboration among the various open protocol-enabled initiatives and generate awareness amongst multiple stakeholders.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)