Ministry of Commerce & Industry has published details of Open Network for Digital Commerce to democratize digital commerce. The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is a Section 8 company, under the initiative of DPIIT, with a mission to democratize digital commerce. ONDC develops and maintains the ONDC Protocol, an open technical standard similar to UPI, HTTP and SMTP.
Any two platforms that are compliant with the ONDC Protocol can interoperate without specifically integrating with each other’s systems. The ONDC Protocol compliant applications together constitute the ONDC Network.
Just as UPI enables interoperability of banks and payment platforms to transfer money, or SMTP allows people to exchange emails without worrying about which email service the recipient uses, the ONDC Protocol allows buyers and sellers to trade goods or services no matter which /platform they use, as long as the platforms are part of the ONDC Network.
The benefits of the ONDC Network include lower entry-barriers to digital commerce, providing Level playing field for all e- Commerce models and unbundling of various stages of e-commerce transactions to allow new business models and opportunities. Hence, ONDC ensures an expansion of digital commerce, making it more inclusive.
