Reminiscing the Journey on this Foundation Day of ONDC

Open Network for Digital Commerce started as an innovative technological solution by @DPIIT under the leadership of Hon’ble Minster Shri Piyush Goyal to problems and gaps in local eCommerce that were highlighted by the COVID pandemic. Mr Anil Agrawal AS DPIIT played a leadership role in shaping this idea to evolve into a transformative solution hitherto attempted nowhere in the world. When we were faced with the challenge of the pandemic ?with practically all the neighbourhood shops closed, he dreamt about a solution that could go beyond short term solution, He consulted experts with diverse experiences to help the ministry which eventually led to establishment of an Advisory Council ?with Shri Nandan Nilekani, Dr RS Sharma, Smt Anjali Bansal, Shri Adil Zainulbhai, Shri Arvind Gupta, Shri Dilip Asbe, Shri Suresh Sethi, Shri Praveen Khandelwal and Shri Kumar Rajagopalan as members. Hon’ble Minister Piyush Goyal and Secretary Anurag Jain gave all the support to establish ONDC and an entity with a clear focus. I would say it was the persistence and perseverance of Shri Anil Agrawal that helped in evolving this to this definite shape in such short time

The vision of ONDC is to democratise eCommerce so that every citizen in India can use eCommerce to buy products and services from every seller, MSME and small business in India. Through ONDC, sellers, no matter their size or scale will be able to participate in eCommerce on their own terms.

?Starting as an idea which is unique and unprecedented in the whole world., ONDC has grown from a concept to reality. @Quality Council of India was tasked with the responsibility of incubating the mission by DPIIT.

?As the foundational pillars of ONDC were laid down, ONDC was incorporated as a non-profit company with the support of institutions which have built population-scale initiatives for the country including @Quality Council of India and @Protean as its founding members, adding to India’s approach to building public digital infrastructure. Subsequently seventeen other banks and financial institutions joined as shareholders. These include State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Uco Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank?of India, Axis Bank, ICICI bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank, IDFC Bank, BSE, BSE, NSDL, CDSL, CSC eGovernance , NABARD, SIDBI

In the past year, ONDC has grown from establishing its proof-of-concept in a digital simulation to its first real-world transactions, establishing its footprint in 85 citiesas part of alpha testing and subsequently and launching its Beta in Bengaluru first followed by Meerut.

On the eve of its first Foundation Day, ONDC with 26 participants and more than 800 merchants, ONDC is rapidly expanding its footsteps and is on its way of transforming digital commerce, in India, and evolving to be an bench mark to the whole world. giving the power to sellers and buyers to do business on their own terms through customised apps and solutions.

Following the vision of the Hon’ble Prime Minister #Vocal4Local?of Shri Narendra Modi, ONDC, will enable a broad cross section of merchants, artisans, FPOs, traders, SMEs, weavers across every corner of India with equal opportunities as the big established players in the digital world.

We are taking baby steps and we can succeed only with support and participation of all industry players in this journey. Through our social media posts today we will share the details of our journey and our road ahead envisioned by our various stakeholders