ONDC can power 500 mn digital consumers in India by 2030: Report

New Delhi, April 25

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday invited all e-commerce companies to join the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) which is poised for rapid growth in the months ahead with the growing e-commerce marketplace offering farmers bigger markets and better prices for their products as well as equitable and fair treatment for all. “Consumer will be the king, will get best price, quality service and products,” Goyal said at a one-day workshop conducted by ONDC in New Delhi.

The Government is planning significant growth or the ONDC in the next few months by pushing the participation of all e-commerce companies, big and small in the new bazaar in a bid to position it as a transformational engine in India and across the world. As per a McKinsey & Company-ONDC report, the e-marketplace will facilitate India to record 500 million digitally transacting consumers by 2030, increasing 3-4 times from 165-190 million in FY22. To take this vision further, the e-market place will promote local languages, products, and cultural heritage, and create opportunities for small businesses. Small artisans and workers can offer better quality through ONDC and also earn better without having to pay commission for their products, students can compare prices of books and online courses and people can avail health services at the best prices.

The Government is working to ensure that ONDC fosters healthy competition and contributes to the overall growth of the digital commerce ecosystem in India through efforts being undertaken to structure it in a way that empowers both buyers and sellers, fosters economies of scale, competition, better pricing and quality. The e marketplace, with the concept of using interfaces between various platforms, will open up more options for buyers, enhance price discovery and market opportunities for sellers as well as empower consumers to make informed choices. This, hopes Goyal, will result in more competition in the market and enable speedy, efficient, real-time settlement of transactions, catering to hyperlocal and global needs simultaneously.

Goyal referred to the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in the financial services sector to draw parallels with ONDC which can replicate the success of the UPI initiative in encouraging hundreds of fintech companies to innovate and promote financial inclusion. Just as UPI has brought about innovation in the fintech sector and promoted startups and unicorns through socialising valuation, the ONDC, with a similar concept of interoperable interface, is expected to provide ease of operation for sellers across multiple platforms and provide them a bigger market.