ONDC Platform can be a Gamer Changer for Small Businesses in India: Jayesh Ranjan

Hyderabad: A session on How ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) will be a game changer for your business held on Tuesday at FTCCI, Red Hills, Hyderabad.
 
ONDC is an open network for Digital Commerce and is a Govt of India initiative. It can be the next big revolution in Digital Commerce in India. 
It is the first of its kind in the world and there is no parallel to it, said Shireesh Joshi, Chief Business Officer, ONDC.
 
ONDC is the response to a situation if people are confined to homes, like in the last pandemic times and could not do physical commerce, said Shireesh.
 
E-retail penetration is only 4.3% in India; well below China (25%), South Korea (26%), and the UK (23%). There is a huge growth potential he observed. India has 1.2 crore Kirana shops, but just 15000 are e-commerce enabled, which is 0.125%.
 
We are working towards enabling population-scale inclusion of merchants and buyers. Increasing the Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of digital transactions. Expanding the coverage of retailers using digital commerce Expanding the share of Indians using eCommerce to buy online Amplifying the geographic coverage of every domain via eCommerce, shared Mr Shireesh.
 
Many industry insiders viewed it as Amazon, and Flipkart's killer when our Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi launched it a year ago. It is like a Unified Payments Interface (UPI) , an instant real-time payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) which has revolutionized digital transactions and many countries are trying to replicate this model. The next big thing on the making similar to that is ONDC observed speakers while interacting informally.
 
Open Network for Digital Commerce, is a private non-profit Section 8 company established by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) of the Government of India to develop open e-commerce. The Seminar was jointly organised by FTCCI, Govt of Telangana, GlobalLinker, and ONDC.
 
Addressing the 250-plus gathering Jayesh Ranjan said there are many national examples of the success of ONDC, which include Kancheepuram sarees onboarded. Kerala state is fully supportive of online stores. Telangana State GlobalLinker started early even before ONDC started. Now 12000 MSMEs are part of GlobalLinker, Mr. Ranjan shared. ONDC platform can be a game changer for many small businesses in India, Ranjan highlighted.
 
Telangana State GlobalLinker is one of the early ONDC-compliant platforms. Any business owner can join the GlobalLinker network, create an online store in under 10 minutes and link their catalogue to the ONDC network. This is done in collaboration with the Government of Telangana said Malavika Jaggi, Director, GlobalLinker. 
 
GlobalLinker' is a Business Enablement Platform powering the growth of SMEs. It enables SMEs to 'Get Digitized' (E-Biz Card, E-Commerce Enablement); 'Get Connected' (Matchmaking) and 'Get Partner Solutions' (3rd Party Offers on Preferential Terms), she added.
 
Nearly 25000 merchandises across India are onboarded on the ONDC platform. The traction is very good. Home-based manufacturers and entrepreneurs can take maximum advantage of the platform. Once the products are onboarded, they may face global competition. So, they must pay attention to quality, labelling and packaging. Only quality products will survive. So back-end work is also equally important, Mr Jayesh Ranjan said.
 
Giving a welcome address Vatsala Mishra, Officer on Special Duty, Industries Department and Director MSME said India’s share of Global E-Commerce is only 1.5% in the year 2023 and will grow to 2% in the year 2030. India’s E-commerce is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world. Tier 2, and 3 cities continue to dominate India’s e-commerce growth in near future.
 
Giving Telangana Government initiatives, she said it launched GlobalLinker in collaboration with Digivation Digital Solutions P Ltd. to build a digital ecosystem for MSME retailers of the State, offering a range of services, either free or highly discounted compared to market standards. An AI-powered platform dedicated to serving MSMEs. It has 12,000+ registrants in Telangana. 

It has allowed them to network with other existing 4 Lac+ MSMEs across the world. It’s an online store builder, enabling MSMEs to digitize their business. Companies can make their store free of cost, with domain and lifelong cloud hosting. TSGL (Telangana State Global Linker) handholds these clients right from inception to execution, including integrating payment gateway & logistics on the stores informed Vatsala.
 
Amidst 1st lockdown (May 2020), Telangana State Govt. and  GlobalLinker collaborated to launch a portal called KiranaLinker. This enabled local grocery/ kirana store owners to create their online store in under 10 minutes, she said.
              
Speaking on the occasion T. Koshy, CEO of ONDC said the unique platform ONDC can shape the future of the global e-commerce space. ONDC is a unique initiative across the globe, he added. In future, every merchandise can make their catalogue visible with ONDC. He urged merchandise to join it in the early stages.
 
Giving his closing remarks, Anil Agarwal, President of FTCCI said, it will be a game changer for your business. Online commerce is the mainline commerce of the future. He urged participants to take advantage of first movers and join the mission and make the world discover your business. Ms Khyati Naravane, CEO of FTCCI, ICT Committee Chair, members, guests, and government functionaries participated in the seminar.