Nandan Nilekani, Co-founder of Infosys, is a billionaire with ambitious goals. He, who was the face behind the smooth execution of the Aadhaar bio-metric and UPI (Unified Payments Interface), is now helping the Modi government develop a online network — the ONDC (Open Network of Digital Commerce) — for small enterprises to enter the race of e-commerce business.
With the existing e-commerce giants already ruling the business, what's the need for the ONDC and who is it benefitting? Let's find out in today's edition of #WhatTheFAQ!
What is the ONDC?
Initiated by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the ONDC is an open network for small merchants and retailers to directly provide their services to both traders and consumers. It facilitates local services like mobility, grocery, food order and delivery, hotel booking and travel, and so on.
What's the purpose of this new network?
The network's prime objective is to build new opportunities to support the micro, medium and small enterprises. But the real aim is, sooner or later, to restrict the powers of e-commerce giants Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart, which are ruling 80 per cent of the country's online retail market. With their domination, the nation's retail spirit, small merchants and many local stores were disturbed and left in worry.
Who will benefit from this network?
With the effect of pandemic, there is a surge of e-commerce businesses and digital transformations which took a toll on small enterprises, affecting their local occupation. But with the execution of the new network, these local enterprises can directly coordinate with traders and consumers. Hence, helping and supporting them to step on an online platform and enlarge their businesses to a wide range of audience. While the network is all set to initiate selecting users in five cities — Delhi, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Bhopal, and Shillong — its main aim is to target 100 cities in the coming months.
Who's supporting this new network?
A report by Reuters shows that the government already received support from retailers and venture capital firms, which include lenders like State Bank of India and ICICI Bank. Additionally, Bank of Baroda had already agreed upon total investments of Rs 2.55 billion ($33.26 million) into ONDC.
When will it be executed?
While Aadhaar took nine years to reach billions of people, UPI took only five years to cross 4 billion transactions. So, Nandan Nilekani feels optimistic that the ONDC will roll out soon, compared to others.
