About ONDC - Open Network for Digital Commerce

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), a Section 8 company, was established on the 31st of December 2021. It is an initiative of the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce, Government of India. The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is envisioned to create a facilitative model to revolutionize digital commerce, giving greater thrust to penetration of retail e-commerce in India. ONDC is not an application, platform, intermediate, or piece of software; rather, it is a set of standards with the goal of fostering open, unbundled, and interoperable open networks. This removes the reliance on a single platform.

The following is a list of important ONDC objectives:

1. The Democratisation and decentralisation of the online retail industry

2. Ease of participation and access for vendors, in particular micro, small, and medium-sized companies, as well as community-based organisations

3. An expansion of the consumer's range of options and their level of autonomy

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ONDC, T. Koshy, stated that "This is a milestone for ONDC and for e-commerce in India." The ONDC platform will help to democratize the e-commerce ecosystem by making it possible for all buyers and sellers to have access to all other participants in the market. Even for the Beta Test in Bengaluru, we picked the two categories that would prove to be the most challenging: grocery stores and restaurants. We are certain that this beta test will provide us with valuable information that will assist us in further refining our playbook in preparation for a deployment across all of India.

Consumers, sellers, and Network Participants (Buyer Apps, Seller Apps, and Gateways) in the open network can gain more faith in one another as a result of ONDC's consultation with the existing ecosystem and its experts, as well as the company's examination of best practices for adapting and developing the most effective method of establishing trust in an unbundled and decentralized network. This is outlined in a paper that is currently accessible for public input on the official social media handles of DPIIT and ONDC, as well as on the website for ONDC at www.ondc.org.

As more and more companies join the network, a gradual increase in the number of buyers, sellers, technological service providers, categories, and pin codes will occur. Blowhorn, Craftsvilla, CSC Grameen eStore, Ekart, Global Linker (Faiita IT Mall), Grab, HDFC Bank, IDFC First Bank, ITC Store, Kotak Bank, Magicpin, Microsoft, Peppo, Petpooja, PhonePe, Shopalyst, Snapdeal, and Zoho are in advanced stages of integration and are anticipated to go live within the next few months.