Topics In Demand
Notification
New

No notification found.

Industry Awareness Session on Open Network for Digital Commerce
Industry Awareness Session on Open Network for Digital Commerce

April 26, 2022

540

0

On April 22, 2022, NASSCOM organised a session with the Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Business Officer of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to discuss about ONDC’s plan and the business opportunities that exist for the tech sector in relation to ONDC.

ONDC is being developed as an open public network for e-commerce supported by the Government of India. The Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry is the nodal government department for ONDC. The ONDC project was being piloted by Quality Council of India, as the Programme Management Unit. Now, ONDC has been registered as a non-profit company under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013. There is an ongoing discussion with 60+ players across e-commerce to plug in to ONDC. Several players are in advanced stages of integration with ONDC. The announcement for a pan-India launch of ONDC is scheduled for August 2022.

The webinar saw participation from the industry, especially SaaS, e-commerce, fintech start-ups and tech companies. In order to explain what ONDC is and to clarify the potential misconceptions around it, the ONDC team explained the following:

  1. ONDC is not an e-commerce platform. It is designed to be an open network that aims to enable interoperability between existing and upcoming e-commerce platforms and unbundle the various services within the e-commerce ecosystem, to create better market access.
  2. This is being done through the use of Beckn Protocol, which is a set of open specifications that enable 2-sided platform centric systems into multiple 1-sided platforms/applications forming an open network connected via the interoperable protocol layer. In the context of ONDC, this protocol allows sellers and buyers to connect to open networks using any platform of their choice.
  3. ONDC is expected to be beneficial to various stakeholders of the e-commerce ecosystem in the following ways:
    1. For buyers: access to all sellers through a single platform, wider options for price, delivery, add-on services, faster hyper-local fulfilment, wholesome buyer experience etc.
    2. For sellers: discoverability by the entire buyer universe, only one-time registration, low-cost access to complete value chain, autonomy on terms and conditions, access to business enhancement analytics, portable network-wide reputation etc.
    3. For Technology companies: new opportunities to drive innovation in e-commerce value chain, supporting customers on buyer/seller applications, leverage comparative advantage and focus on their strength etc.

Some of the key points that generated discussion during the Q&A session included:

  1. ONDC is being developed for both, goods and services e-commerce. When users log-in to a platform, they can access the ONDC open network by clicking on the ONDC icon that would be made available to users if the platform they are using has onboarded to ONDC.
  2. The ONDC network will store data only for statutory purposes (for example, for undertaking audits) or maintaining the health of the network (for example, track quantum of transactions to manage traffic on the network). In all of this, ONDC is not designed to store personal data of either the user side or the buyer side.
  3. ONDC will enable the discovery of buyers and sellers and will connect them. However, it is not a part of the payment process. For payment, either the buyer application or the seller application could be collecting the money through payment gateways etc. The respective GST compliances will have to be accordingly carried out by the buyer through the buyer application. ONDC will not be involved in GST compliances.
  4. Many participants expressed interest in having more detailed conversations with the ONDC team. The ONDC team explained that the next steps for onboarding with ONDC can be taken up by filling the profile of the company interested in being onboarded, specifying the points of contact, joining the ONDC cohort of companies to work together towards a successful go-live. Companies interested in onboarding with ONDC can also get in touch with the ONDC team by writing to team@ondc.org.

The presentation used by the ONDC team in the session is attached below.

For more information on this topic, kindly write to garima@nasscom.in.


That the contents of third-party articles/blogs published here on the website, and the interpretation of all information in the article/blogs such as data, maps, numbers, opinions etc. displayed in the article/blogs and views or the opinions expressed within the content are solely of the author's; and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of NASSCOM or its affiliates in any manner. NASSCOM does not take any liability w.r.t. content in any manner and will not be liable in any manner whatsoever for any kind of liability arising out of any act, error or omission. The contents of third-party article/blogs published, are provided solely as convenience; and the presence of these articles/blogs should not, under any circumstances, be considered as an endorsement of the contents by NASSCOM in any manner; and if you chose to access these articles/blogs , you do so at your own risk.


Download Attachment

ONDC_Briefing Presentation_April 2022.pdf

images
Garima Prakash
Manager, Public Policy and Government Affairs

Reach out to me for all things policy about e-commerce, international trade, export controls, start-ups and fintech

© Copyright nasscom. All Rights Reserved.