New Delhi, June 24 (Agency) Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is gaining increasing traction from the industry, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said on Thursday.’ A total of seven companies- one buyer side app, five seller side apps and one logistics service provider app – have adopted ONDC protocols and built their own ONDC compatible apps. These apps have been able to successfully complete cascaded transactions across the ONDC network during the pilot phase in five designated cities- Bengaluru, New Delhi, Bhopal, Shillong and Coimbatore – in grocery and food and beverages segments,’ Goyal said during a meeting of the ONDC Advisory Council here.ONDC is an initiative aimed at promoting open networks for all aspects of exchange of goods and services over digital or electronic networks.
The minister said while the pilot phase of ONDC has given promising results with traders who were already digitally present, ONDC must prioritize strategies towards inclusion of non-digital traders, handi craftsmen and artisans so that the benefits of e-commerce may be availed by these sections. He asked the department to launch a pilot with focus on non-digital traders from one single market. Goyal said the local trader associations should be involved in the exercise and necessary measures for awareness generation and capacity building of various stakeholders be taken. He also asked the department to leverage the strength of Startup India to build ONDC based applications.He said ONDC must work closely with various industry associations to bring faster adoption to ONDC. The minister also directed that ONDC network be made a robust policy framework for building trust in the network.