The Open Network for Digital Commerce ONDC was open to the public in Bengaluru on Friday. This milestone in India's ecommerce growth story was hailed by Chief Minister of Karnataka, Basavaraj S Bommai, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, co-founder of NSE-listed Paytm, Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce Industry and more. Goyal said on September 7 that ONDC would offer new avenues for buyers and it will democratise and expand reach for sellers.
ONDC is a government-backed initiative that aims to reduce the dominance of ecommerce giants and provide a platform for small retailers and merchants to sell their products.
The beta testing will feature more than 200 merchants across grocery and F&B food beverages. Buyers can place orders on ONDC through Buyer-side apps like Paytm, IDFC, Spice Money, CraftsVilla, and MyStore. Logistics start-ups such as Dunzo and Loadshare will manage the delivery.
Anil Agrawal, the founder of ONDC, announced the launch on Twitter. He wrote, Building trust in ONDC is critical. As we launch beta testing for a limited set of users, a consultation paper on how trust in the open network could be strengthened has been published for stakeholder comments. A few sources familiar with the matter told BT that the buyer-side commission is capped at 3 per cent and the seller side commission ranges between 10 and 15 per cent.