Open Network for Digital Commerce to help small retailers adopt modern delivery systems: Piyush Goyal

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Saturday that the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) will help small retailers engage with big companies and serve customers with modern delivery systems.

Through the ONDC, the government is working towards democratising e-commerce in the country so that millions of small mom-and-pop stores and small retailers “do not get extinguished like we have seen in the West, but get an equal opportunity to engage using digital technologies” to grow their businesses and serve their customs, he said. The minister was virtually addressing the Entrepreneurship Summit, organised by BITS, Pilani.

“What UPI is to the digital payment domain, ONDC is to 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,” he said.

The ONDC was incorporated as a private sector non-profit company on December 31, 2021. Several established firms have already integrated with the platform. The government has also set up a nine-member advisory council, including Nandan Nilekani from Infosys and National Health Authority CEO RS Sharma, to consider measures required to design and accelerate the adoption of ONDC.

Goyal called for further improving diversity in start-ups, as the country needs more entrepreneurs in critical sectors such as agriculture and textiles.

Calling start-ups as the innovation engine for the country, Goyal highlighted the fact that India is now the world’s third-largest start-up ecosystem. The number of start-ups registered with the department for the promotion industry and internal trade surged from 500 to more than 65,000 in the past five years, including more than 90 unicorns.