Union Minister of Commerce Piyush Goyal on Wednesday expressed confidence that the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) will be a transformational engine not in India alone but across the world.

Addressing “Enabling Bharat 2.0”, a one-day workshop conducted by ONDC in New Delhi, Piyush Goyal said he was optimistic about the significant growth of the ONDC in the next few months. He invited all e-commerce companies, big and small, to join ONDC and be part of this new bazaar that reimagines digital commerce.

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He mentioned that ONDC will promote local languages, products, and cultural heritage, and create opportunities for small businesses. Small artisans and workers can offer better quality through ONDC and also earn better without having to pay commissions for their products.

He emphasised that ONDC will foster healthy competition, benefit consumers and contribute to the overall growth of the digital commerce ecosystem in India.

Goyal said monolithic e-commerce platforms will never be able to provide the services of the kind that a network of platforms like ONDC can offer. He highlighted various sectors that may benefit from ONDC like farmers who can access bigger markets and demand better prices for their products, students who can compare prices of books and online courses and people who can avail health services at the best prices.

He stressed the need to create systems that benefit everyone and create opportunities for all. He said that efforts are being made to ensure that e-commerce becomes an engine of growth that empowers both buyers and sellers.

The minister highlighted that ONDC will unlock doors of opportunities in an inclusive manner for both big and small businesses, benefitting the entire value chain of commerce. He said that ONDC will provide a much larger market for sellers, without any preferred or priority sellers, ensuring equitable and fair treatment for all stakeholders. He said that ONDC will foster economies of scale, competition, and better pricing and quality, ultimately benefiting consumers. He said that ONDC is customer-centric, keeping in line with the vision of Mahatma Gandhi, where the customer is king.