The man behind Aadhaar, the largest digital identification project in the world, and India’s widely praised payments revolution has discovered a new passion: democratising burgers and biryani.
Chairman of Infosys Ltd. Nandan Nilekani’s newest venture into public-policy evangelism, Open Network Digital Commerce, is already causing concern for restaurant delivery systems. But it goes beyond just goods and food. In India, an unbundling of e-commerce might ruin investments worth billions of dollars.
To watch where the government-backed project goes, Walmart Inc. is hesitantly supporting it. As of now, Amazon.com Inc. has decided to work with ONDC to integrate all of its logistics services, from pickup to delivery.
If China launched the quick-response, or QR, code revolution, India has made only one significant financial contribution in the previous seven years: the Unified Payments Interface. This innovative concept has made deposits spread across many banks as simple to use a smartphone to spend as cash. The approach, which was widely imitated, is currently experiencing its greatest success with Brazil’s Pix platform, which has virtually eliminated the need for cards. There are proposals to globally replicate India’s UPI for cross-border money transfers.
Also read, Adani-Hindenburg case: SC grants SEBI time till August 14 to submit report.
Why ONDC is important for the digital commerce:
Nilekani has turned his attention to e-commerce in the interim. Approximately 75% of Indians with internet access do not shop online, and just 5 million of the 100 million micro, small, and medium-sized businesses in the nation are registered to sell online.
On platforms, just a small percentage of them generate substantial commerce. The non-profit that was created as a result of Nilekani’s campaigning and the government’s support, ONDC, outlines how it can improve this stunted landscape in a report with the consulting company McKinsey & Co. An alternative to the current platform-centric model is offered by ONDC.
Digital commerce becomes more accessible to buyers and sellers by moving the diversified Indian bazaar of products and services online. Any partnering app can be used by customers to tap into it and start a search for an item.
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