The Indian authorities’s open e-commerce community ONDC has expanded its operations into 236 cities within the nation whereas including greater than 36,000 retailers, a senior firm official mentioned on Thursday.
The authorities launched the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) final 12 months to offer small companies and retailers entry to processes and applied sciences often supplied by large e-commerce platforms reminiscent of Amazon and Walmart.
The non-profit firm’s community at the moment shows services and products from all taking part e-commerce platforms in search outcomes throughout all apps on its community.
“ONDC is handholding small retailers whereas aiming to make e-commerce extra inclusive and accessible for customers,” T Koshy, CEO of the corporate, informed reporters.
The community is slowly and steadily recording an uptick in transactions, he mentioned.
The authorities has mentioned current platforms are tightly managed, preserving out many small gamers. It expects ONDC to extend competitors and foster start-up innovation.
T Koshy mentioned the corporate was in talks with cab operators to launch operations in at the least 4 cities, after efficiently launching mobility operations in two cities in South India.
More than 55,000 taxi cab homeowners have already joined the community, and customers have been utilizing it for about 35,000 rides a day, he mentioned.
The platform has helped cab homeowners to supply companies whereas saving on hefty commissions paid to different platforms and supply decrease charges to passengers, mentioned Shaikh Salauddin, head of Telengana Four Wheeler Drivers Association, and a taxi driver.
“The ONDC transfer has helped to advertise honest competitors within the e-commerce and serving to customers and small gamers.”
ONDC goals to boost e-commerce penetration within the subsequent two years to 25 p.c of India’s shopper purchases, from almost 8 p.c now, in a rustic of 1.4 billion individuals.
On Tuesday, the federal government mentioned the state-run Indian postal service, which has a community of almost 160,000 put up places of work, can even be a part of the ONDC community to supply logistics companies to small merchants throughout the nation.