Why in news?

• Central govt recently launched its Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) as a prospective alternative to dominant global giants Amazon. com and Wal-Mart in its fast-growing e-commerce market.

About ONDC

• ONDC is a non-profit company whose network will enable the display of products and services from all participating e-commerce platforms in search results across all apps on the network.
• ONDC aims to raise e-commerce penetration in the next two years to 25 per cent of India’s consumer purchases, from nearly 8 per cent now, in a country of 135 Cr. people.
• It also hopes to sign up 90 Cr. buyers and 12 lakh sellers on the shared network within the next five years, while achieving gross merchandise value of $48 illbion.
• The government estimates that India’s e-commerce market was worth more than $55 billion in gross merchandise value in 2021 and will grow to $350 billion by the end of this decade.
• Currently, Amazon and Waymart’s Flipkart control more than 60 per cent of teh market.

Aim to boost Economy

• The existing platforms work in silos and are tightly controlled, keeping out many small players. It expects ONDC to increase competition and foster innovation by start-ups.
• ONDC will bring in logistics firms and others who can collaborate with sellers to deliver products to customers.
• The focus would be on small merchants and rural consumers, with apps in Indian languages.
• It will help limit the opportunities for selected sellers who receive preferential treatment—a common accusation against major e-commerce companies.
• Users will be able to rate service providers on ONDC, which will be applicable and visible across the network.
• Heavy investment made by the Government in rolling out fibres network for 5G will help boost E-commerce in India.
• Under the Digital India movement, Government launched various initiatives like Umang, Start-up India Portal and Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) etc. to boost digitisation.
• ONDC will help to end predatory pricing, especially in high-margin, high-value products.

Challenges

• ONDC aims mainly to tap millions of small businesses that often lack of technological expertise, so the government will have to run a massive awareness campaign to get them on board.
• Smaller businesses with low volumes may also lack the resources to match the discounts offered by heavyweights like Amazon and Flipkart.
• Lack of distribution systems also can hamper the current situation of small businesses.

Other important points

• As per the Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission Rules, there will be no fee for filing cases up to Rs. 5 lakh.
• E-commerce platforms have to acknowledge the receipt of any consumer complaint within fortyeight hours and redress the complaint within one month from the date of erceipt under this Act.
• Every e-commerce entity is required to provide information relating to return, refund, exchange, warranty and guarantee, delivery  and shipment, modes of payment,  grievance redressal mechanism, payment  methods, security of payment methods, charge-back Options, etc. including country of origin.

Way Forward

• The internet has opened so many opportunities for doing business online and e-commerce is one of the most popular ones.
• E-Commerce has undeniably become an important part of our society.
• The successful countries of the future will be those that take E-Commerce seriously, dedicating sufficient resources to its development.
• E-Commerce is not an IT issue but a whole business undertaking.