NEW DELHI: The Union commerce ministry on Monday announced the constitution of a nine-member advisory committee to curb the digital monopolies in the country. The department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) in a notification said that it has initiated a digital project on open network for digital commerce (ONDC) and the task has been assigned to the quality council of India (QCI).
The ONDC is expected to digitise the entire value chain, standardise operations, promote inclusion of suppliers, drive efficiencies in logistics and enhance the value for consumers. “ONDC aims at promoting open networks developed on open source methodology, using open specifications and open network protocols independent of any specific platform,” as per the order.
The advisory committee will be headed by RS Sharma, CEO of National Health Authority, and will have Nandan Nilekani, co-founder and non-executive Chairman, Infosys; Adil Zainulbhai, QCI chief; Anjali Bansal, founder of Avaana Capital; Arvind Gupta, co-founder of Digital India Foundation; Dilip Asbe, head of National Payments Corporation of India; Suresh Sethi, head of National Securities Depository; Praveen Khandelwal, chief of the Confederation of All India Traders; and Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of the Retailers Association of India, as its advisory members.
The announcement comes at a time when the Union commerce ministry has proposed fresh amendments to the e-commerce rules, Consumer Protection Act 2020, in a bid to prevent market dominance by market leaders, preferential treatment of a few sellers and deep discounting.