India's Digital Public Infrastructure Next Big Move: ONDC for the $300 Billion Digital Commerce market

After the success of Aadhaar and UPI, ONDC is aimed to now disrupt the $300 Billion Digital Commerce Market in India

Hello everyone, welcome to The India Opportunity Podcast where you get a front-row seat to people building India’s future. We talk about unlocking the potential of the country with founders, investors, creators, and successful leaders from different fields to bring you real-life stories and behind-the-scenes of what it takes to be at the forefront of building the India Story.

The 17th episode of The India Opportunity Podcast is out now! You can watch it on YouTube or listen to it on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Our guest today is Anjani, the Vice President at ONDC, Open Network for Digital Commerce, an initiative of the Government of India to democratize e-commerce for small businesses. Since we’ve previously talked about how India is really investing in digital public infrastructure like Aadhar and UPI - ONDC was a natural next topic so that you can learn about the initiative which will completely transform the ecommerce industry in India, especially for the small businesses in domains like mobility, food and beverage, grocery, fashion and more.  As they say ‘ ONDC network par ab har business ke liye Bharat khulega’. Some of the most recent stats are: 90 million transactions since inception, 12 million transactions per month, over 600,000+ sellers out of which 80% are small sellers and presence across 1200 cities. Truly remarkable feat for an initiative launched just 1.5 years ago in January 2023. Today we will spend time understanding the significance of ONDC, the need for an initiative like this and the roadmap ahead. Small business owners can really benefit from this, so if you’re an entrepreneur or founder running a small e-commerce business - this episode will help you get a deep understanding of what ONDC really is and how you can benefit from it.

Takeaways

• ONDC aims to democratize digital commerce and uplift the livelihoods of small businesses in India.

• The current e-commerce landscape in India is dominated by a few large players, creating a need for a more inclusive and competitive market.

• ONDC is not a competitor to existing platforms but rather an enabler for businesses to unlock growth and enter complementary services.

• The initiative has already seen significant progress, with millions of transactions and a growing network of participants.

• The roadmap ahead includes expanding the reach and impact of ONDC, with the potential to transform the Indian digital commerce market. ONDC is a community-led model that empowers small businesses in the digital commerce space.

• The platform offers a subscription-based model for drivers, increasing their income and providing a sense of ownership.

• ONDC addresses challenges faced by small businesses through technological interventions and crowdsourced solutions.

• The platform has seen success in the logistics space, offering preferential rates and enhancing the customer experience.

• The future of digital commerce with ONDC is expected to be conversational and platform-agnostic, with increased discoverability and a reduction in rent-seeking tendencies.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background

01:47 The Mission of ONDC

06:17 Collaboration vs Competition: ONDC's Approach

08:29 The Impact and Scale of ONDC

11:58 Fostering Innovation and Success Stories

20:50 Progress and Roadmap of ONDC

25:10 Empowering Drivers with a Subscription-Based Model

29:20 Addressing Challenges in Small Business: Cataloging

33:39 Crowdsourcing Solutions for Inventory Management

44:19 Enhancing the Logistics Experience with ONDC

46:20 The Future of Digital Commerce: Conversational and Platform-Agnostic

Follow Anjani here: LinkedIn

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