More

    India’s Own Home-grown ONDC Looks to Break Amazon-Flipkart Duopoly in E-Commerce

    GovernanceE-governanceIndia's Own Home-grown ONDC Looks to Break Amazon-Flipkart Duopoly...
    - Advertisment -

    India’s Own Home-grown ONDC Looks to Break Amazon-Flipkart Duopoly in E-Commerce

    The upcoming desi e-commerce platform, ONDC, aims to bring on board 10 million merchants and 30 million sellers in 100 cities by August.

    By Prachi Gupta

    The Indian government is all set to launch an open network for digital commerce to take on the Indian arms of Amazon and Walmart that dominate the $73 billion domestic e-commerce market. The ONDC platform will allow buyers and sellers to transact with each other online irrespective of the applications used by them.

    The platform will launch its operations in five cities initially and will later expand to 100 cities by August, bringing on board 10 million merchants and 30 million sellers. Venture capital firms and top banks have committed to pump in funds to develop the platform. And leading the effort is Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys and chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, which developed Aadhar, the world’s largest biometric identification system.

    - Advertisement -

    India’s retail market is worth at least $1 trillion, but it is highly fragmented. E-commerce is just a small fraction of this fast-growing market. Amazon and Flipkart together have invested $24 billion to capture the market. The multinational players that together control half of India’s e-commerce trade are accused of using their duopoly position to squeeze supplier margins and of giving preferential treatment to some sellers. The e-commerce market is expected to touch $188 billion by 2025.

    Challenging Amazon, Flipkart

    ONDC will look to create a level playing field for millions of merchants and small retailers who are losing ground to Amazon and Flipkart. The dominant players Amazon and Flipkart are accused of using predatory pricing to put small traders out of business. The Competition Commission of India, India’s antitrust watchdog had conducted a series of raids on the premises of sellers of Amazon and Flipkart amid charges of breaches of the competition laws of the country.

    The ONDC network is being developed by the commerce ministry and will support segments such as grocery, food delivery, hotel booking and air travel. The platform will back micro, small and medium enterprises as well as small traders.

    The government looks to repeat the success of UPI that brought the country’s lenders on a unified platform and created a system for person-to-merchant payments. However, developing technology to bring a wide range of players from Kirana stores and FMCG manufacturers to local restaurants is a huge challenge. The quality of the network is key to weaning away consumers from world-class platforms to the ONDC platform.

    Apart from Nilekani, the advisory council of ONDC has RS Sharma, Adil Zainulbhai, Anjali Bansal, Arvind Gupta, Dilip Asbe, Suresh Sethi, Praveen Khandelwal, and Kumar Rajagopalan as members.

     

    Prachi Gupta is an Assistant Editor with Policy Circle.

    This piece has been sourced from Policy Circle — policycircle.org

    - Advertisement -
    Policy Circle
    Policy Circle
    Policy Circle is a digital platform for informed discussions on economy, policy, governance, and sustainable development.

    LEAVE A REPLY

    Please enter your comment!
    Please enter your name here

    Latest news

    Sri Lanka’s Elephant Corridor Plan ‘Unscientific’

    Nearly 5,000 elephants and 1,600 people have been killed in the last 15 years in clashes between elephants and humans in Sri Lanka, home to one of the largest remaining populations of Asian elephants, according to official figures.

    New Projections Show Extreme Glacier Loss Already at 2°C

    Staying close to 1.5°C on the other hand preserves at least some glacier ice in all regions, even Scandinavia, with 20-30 per cent remaining in the four most sensitive regions; and 40-45 per cent in the Himalayas and Caucuses; stressing the growing urgency of the 1.5°C temperature goal and rapid decarbonization to achieve it.

    Government Extends Interest Relief for Farmers, Reinforces KCC and MISS as Pillars of Agricultural Credit

    Through the KCC framework, farmers benefit from revolving credit facilities for up to five years. This flexible structure allows them to draw and repay funds as per their seasonal requirements without having to reapply for loans each season.

    Legal Battle Brews Over Rampant Illegal Sand Mining in Meghna River

    The massive profits coupled with a weak legal framework have drawn influential individuals with political connections into the sand mining business, making it dangerous for environmental activists and journalists to speak out.
    - Advertisement -

    Yunus Warns of ‘War-Like Situation’ Amid Political Crisis and Rising Tensions

    The high-stakes meeting brought together 20 leaders from various political parties and organisations in two separate sessions, as Yunus sought to shore up support amid reports of internal tensions within his interim government and growing external pressure.

    Vice President Calls for Direct Subsidies and Agri-Entrepreneurship at Madhya Pradesh Conclave

    He urged agro-based industries, NGOs, MPs, and MLAs to adopt villages and help build agri-entrepreneurial ecosystems.

    Must read

    Sri Lanka’s Elephant Corridor Plan ‘Unscientific’

    Nearly 5,000 elephants and 1,600 people have been killed in the last 15 years in clashes between elephants and humans in Sri Lanka, home to one of the largest remaining populations of Asian elephants, according to official figures.

    New Projections Show Extreme Glacier Loss Already at 2°C

    Staying close to 1.5°C on the other hand preserves at least some glacier ice in all regions, even Scandinavia, with 20-30 per cent remaining in the four most sensitive regions; and 40-45 per cent in the Himalayas and Caucuses; stressing the growing urgency of the 1.5°C temperature goal and rapid decarbonization to achieve it.
    - Advertisement -

    More from the sectionRELATED
    Recommended to you