ONDC to be open for public in Bengaluru on Friday

The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), an e-commerce company set up by the government, will be opened to the public in Bengaluru from Friday. The online platform is an initiative by the commerce ministry to help small retailers and reduce the dominance of e-commerce giants 

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal in a tweet said that Bengaluru consumers will get a whole new shopping experience. "Beta testing of the Govt's revolutionary Open Network For Digital Commerce to begin from tomorrow. It is democratic, cost-effective, and empowers buyers and small businesses," he said. 

In April, the ministry launched the pilot phase of the open network for digital commerce in five cities – Delhi, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Shillong and Coimbatore. 

As many as 20 organisations have confirmed investments of Rs 255 crore into the platform, according to PTI. Lenders such as SBI, UCO Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Bank of Baroda have already committed investments. 

With ONDC, the government aims to curb the dominance of two large multinational e-commerce players - Amazon and Flipkart. They together control more than half of the country's e-commerce trading. Not only this, these two platforms are also accused of limiting access to the market by giving preferential treatment to certain sellers. 

In April this year, the ministry said the ONDC is expected to make e-commerce more inclusive and accessible for consumers. Consumers can potentially discover any seller, product, or service by using any compatible application or platform, thus increasing freedom of choice for consumers. 

The platform will enable the consumers to match demand with the nearest available supply. This would also give consumers the liberty to choose their preferred local businesses.