Centre sets up key panel to set protocols for eCommerce: What this means

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) on Monday issued orders to set up a nine-member advisory committee for its Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) project.

The project is aimed at curbing ‘digital monopolies’, and is expected to “digitise the entire value chain, standardise operations, promote inclusion of suppliers, derive efficiencies in logistics and enhance value for consumers,” the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said. The move is aimed at creating a platform, which can be used by all online retailers.

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The nine-member panel includes National Health Authority chief executive RS Sharma and Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani, Quality Control of India Chairman Adil Zainulbhai, Avaana Capital Founder Anjali Bansal, Digital India Foundation Co-Founder Arvind Gupta, National Payments Corporation India CEO Dilip Asbe, NSDL e-Governance MD & CEO Suresh Sethi, CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal, and Retailers Association of India CEO Kumar Rajagopalan.

What is expected to happen in this ONDC process?

The idea of ONDC was first coined last year in order to bring some standards and streamline the e-commerce ecosystem of India. According to a report by The Indian Express, many operational aspects such as onboarding of sellers, vendor discovery, and price discovery could be made on the UPI.

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When software or a process is made open-source, it means that the code or the steps of the process will be made available for other people to use, redistribute and modify. In this case, if ONDC gets implemented then all e-commerce companies will use the same processes, a step that will give small online retailers and new entrants a huge booster.

As of now, each e-marketplace has a different set of rules, a move that sometimes makes it difficult for small traders and suppliers.

The ONDC is expected to make the entire value chain digital, standardise operations, promote inclusion of suppliers, derive efficiencies in logistics, and enhance value for consumers.