KOCHI: Call it the first step by Kerala in the direction. Through the Union government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), the state aims to help hundreds of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) enjoy a level playing field with e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart.The project will see small merchants and grocery stores across the country access processes and technologies and get an on-par digital e-commerce space.
Industries Minister P Rajeeve told TNIE that ONDC, billed as the UPI of e-commerce, has come at a time when the state government is developing its own e-commerce platform for Kerala’s MSME sector. He said workshops and programmes are being organised to make the stakeholders familiarise with ONDC. “We are exploring how our e-commerce platform can be brought under ONDC so that our MSME sector does not miss out on the opportunity,” he said.
A Facebook post by ONDC, after its recent workshop in Thiruvananthapuram, said “Kerala has taken a big leap forward in digital commerce with ONDC”. It also highlighted how retailers in the state can be a part of a democratised digital market.
“The network will act as a facilitator to get players on a par in the digital e-commerce space,” it said. The state is expected to bring one lakh MSMEs across all sectors under this digital initiative in the next one year.“ONDC is turbo-charging the Kerala e-commerce landscape to serve one and all,” the FB post said.
Experts said for the network to succeed at the national level, companies will have to create a sub-network of buyer and seller apps as well as last-mile delivery mechanisms. At present, ONDC is working with several software companies including some big names such as Microsoft, which has joined hands with a Bangalore-based start-up eSamudaay, for the purpose. Others in the fray include SellerApp, GoFrugal and Growth Falcon.
Anup Pai, who co-founded eSamudaay, said his company proposes to create a capitalist in every single town of India through a sub-network of buyers, which is fascinating. “We started considering the possibility of decentralising eCommerce during the lockdown when we saw small businesses with no delivery support shutting down. That’s how the idea of eSamudaay was seeded and today we have a full-fledged decentralised digital entity functioning in the twin towns of Udupi-Manipal in Karnataka,” he said. eSamudaay is looking for support from the Kerala government to promote its ready-to-use toolkit to digitise the merchants.
“The idea is to create local digital entrepreneurs who can then help local merchants digitise and use communication tools to get buyers on board and then provide delivery as a service to the local network,” Pai said, adding that mere building seller-side apps would not do the trick.
Status check
The project will see small merchants and grocery stores across the country access processes and technologies and get an on-par digital e-commerce space.
Experts said for the network to succeed at the national level, companies will have to create a sub-network of buyer and seller apps as well as last-mile delivery mechanisms.