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In a first, 11 Fair Price Shops of Una and Hamirpur districts of Himachal Pradesh were on-boarded on Open Network Digital Commerce (ONDC), Ministry of Consumer Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday.
Department of Food and Public Distribution Secretary Sanjeev Chopra launched a pilot programme to on-board the Fair Price Shops (FPSs) virtually with five of them in Una and six in Hamirpur districts.
A workshop in physical mode was also organised for the FPS dealers in Una and Hamirpur districts to explain on how to catalogue products, service orders, and commission structure on ONDC.
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Speaking on the occasion, Chopra said this landmark initiative adds to the continuous efforts of the Department in transforming the Fair Price Shops. The effort aims at providing additional avenues of income generation for FPS dealers along with enhancing beneficiary satisfaction.
Furthermore, he underlined that this initiative provided numerous benefits for FPS dealers including visibility in the digital marketplace, access to a larger customer base beyond National Food Security Act (NFSA) beneficiaries, and the ability to compete on an equal footing with large retailers and e-commerce platforms.
Additionally, beneficiaries who face difficulties in making online purchases, can approach the FPS dealer to make online orders on their behalf.
He highlighted that the success of the pilot programme being implemented in Himachal Pradesh will serve as a model for statewide and nationwide adoption in the future. He also appreciated the support of MicroSave Consulting (MSC) in deploying this pilot programme.
The ONDC was incorporated on December 31, 2021, and goes beyond the current platform-centric digital commerce model where the buyer and seller have to use the same platform or application to be digitally visible and do a business transaction.
It is a non-profit company established by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to develop open e-commerce.
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