What is the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)?

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About Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC):

It is an open-source network set up to enable buyers and sellers to transact with each other irrespective of the e-commerce platform on which either of them are registered.
It is an initiative of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
It comprises of buyer-side apps where consumers can place orders, seller-side apps that onboard merchants and display their listings, and logistics platforms that handle deliveries.
Aim of ONDC:
- To promote open networks for all aspects of exchange of goods and services over digital or electronic networks.
- To create new opportunities, curb digital monopolies and by supporting micro, small and medium enterprises and small traders and help them get on online platforms.
- It seeks to democratise digital or electronic commerce, moving it from a platform-centric model to an open-network.
Benefits of ONDC:
- It offers small retailers an opportunity to provide their services, and goods to buyers across the country through an e-commerce system.
- ONDC enables merchants to save their data to build credit history and reach consumers.
- It is expected to digitise the entire value chain, promote inclusion of suppliers, derive efficiencies in logistics and enhance value for consumers.
- ONDC protocols would standardize operations like cataloguing, inventory management, order management and order fulfilment.

Q1) What is meant by e-commerce?

E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services, or the transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic network, primarily the internet. These business transactions occur either as business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer or consumer-to-business

Source: ONDC will help small retailers survive Ecomm onslaught: Piyush Goyal