Govt's open e-commerce network to be launched in 100 cities in six months

The central government’s ambitious Open Network for Digital Commerce’s small-scale implementation is set to begin from today to see how the technology-enabled infrastructure works, making processes more robust before it is officially launched.

This will be done across five cities including Delhi, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Bhopal, and Shillong. Later, it will be launched in 100 cities over a period of six months. India's ONDC plan is aimed to onboard 30 million sellers and 10 million merchants online.

The network aims to benefit small, traditional retailers, while restraining digital monopolies and will cover retail, mobility, hospitality, food delivery, wholesale trade, and tourism. The ONDC platform will allow buyers and sellers to connect and transact with each other online, no matter what other application they use.

As many as 150 retailers will participate in the pilot. A buyer-side app will also be connected to the ONDC architecture. Delivery or logistics providers — for delivery of goods — are also being onboarded.

It is reported that ONDC has received investment from the Quality Council of India, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, Small Industries Development Bank of India, State Bank of India, and Punjab National Bank, among others. State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and Bank of Baroda have already committed total investments of $33.26 million into ONDC.