Union Minister Piyush Goyal hints at expansion of ONDC to more cities

New Delhi, July 15 (KNN) The presence of open network for digital commerce (ONDC) will be gradually expanded to more cities after the successful launch of its pilot phase in five cities, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said.

ONDC aims to democratise the fast-growing e-commerce sector in the country to reduce the dominance of online retail giants and help small retailers.

It provides small retailers a choice to choose any logistics player and seller platform based on different parameters such as rates and location.

“ONDC is going to be gradually scaled up because it’s now in the phase of beta testing. We would like to keep scaling it up to figure out how robust the technology is and how simple it is to operate. Also to understand the kind of capacities we will require for data storage and management of the entire process as we grow, “Goyal told PTI.

This initiative by the government will help curb the e-commerce dominance of two large players who control more than half of the country’s e-commerce trading, limit access to the market and give preferential treatment to certain sellers and squeeze supplier margins.

Goyal said that ONDC can help trigger off many startups to bring technology into the remotest corners of India.

More than 20 prestigious organisations such as State Bank of India, UCO Bank, HDFC Bank etc. have already committed investments into the initiative.  (KNN Bureau)