ONDC will transform business difficulties and set an example for the rest of the world: CEO

The initiative's goal is to advance open networks for any kind of digital or electronic network-based trade in products and services.

According to T Koshy, CEO of ONDC, India will become a model for how to overcome the difficulties facing global commerce in the coming years by utilising the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform.

Speaking on the fringes of Kerala Start up Mission's (KSUM) fifth edition of Huddle Global, India's largest beachfront start-up summit, Koshy was part of a panel discussion on "ONDC and its Opportunities."

In order to foster open e-commerce, the Central government's Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade established ONDC in 2021. This organisation is creating a digital network for the e-commerce sector that enables an online vendor to communicate with any buyer in the nation.

Objective

The initiative's goal is to advance open networks for any kind of digital or electronic network-based trade in products and services.

We had the fewest digital payments globally prior to the introduction of the Digital India programme. According to Koshy, 42% of all digital transactions worldwide are currently handled by India.

According to him, the primary goal of ONDC is to guarantee that independent entrepreneurs' enterprises contribute to national prosperity as opposed to solely enriching shareholders.

Noting that ONDC serves as an orchestrator, he explained that each firm carries out its speciality using this "common language," and that ONDC provides the vocabulary and grammar needed for everyone to communicate with one another as well as the guidelines for acceptable behaviour in that community.

Obstacles

He claims that the issue facing global trade today is market concentration and the harmful practises that go along with it, which work against the interests of small enterprises.

Placeorder.com's founder and CEO, Thomson Skariah, stated that ONDC offers a variety of service providers in addition to opening up several opportunities for entrepreneurs.

In the next 36 months, Dilip Vamanan, co-founder of Sellerapp, predicted that ONDC will directly affect all digital transactions, noting that it presents enormous opportunity.

Vendors and sellers see ONDC, which functions similarly to a Unified Payments Interface (UPI) but extends beyond the present platform-centric digital commerce model, as the ideal platform for showcasing their goods that can be sold across multiple national e-commerce platforms.

IBS Software Services Founding Chairman V K Mathews had stated during a panel discussion on "Building from Kerala for the World" that the State needs to prioritise developing digitally enabled environments and infrastructure, as well as starting government-owned and private-operated projects.

The founder of DentCare, John Kuriakose, advised aspiring business owners to approach obstacles head-on and to approach their endeavours with a genuine commitment.