ONDC to democratise e-commerce and help protect small businesses

Context

Union Commerce and Industry Minister recently said Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) would democratize e-commerce and will protect small businesses by granting them equal opportunity.

About

About Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC):

Open Network for Digital Commerce christened ONDC is globally first-of-its-kind initiative that aims to democratise Digital Commerce, moving it from a platform-centric model to an open-network.
It aims to ensure that small retailers get an equal opportunity to engage with big firms, protect their businesses and serve customers with modern ways of delivery system.
As UPI is to the digital payment domain, ONDC is to e-commerce in India.
It will enable buyers and sellers to be digitally visible and transact through an open network, no matter what platform/application they use.
ONDC received its certificate of incorporation as a private sector non-profit company in December, 2021.
A number of established companies have integrated with the platform.
The platform will provide opportunities for new start-ups to start creating a network of sellers, provide service to local areas, and increase competition.

Aims and objectives:

ONDC aims at promoting open networks developed on open-sourced methodology, using open specifications and open network protocols independent of any specific platform.
ONDC is expected to digitize the entire value chain, standardize operations, promote inclusion of suppliers, derive efficiencies in logistics and enhance value for consumers.

About open-source:

Making software or a process open-source means that the code or the steps of that process is made available freely for others to use, redistribute and modify.
An open-source project means that anybody is free to use, study, modify and distribute the project for any purpose.
These permissions are enforced through an open-source licence easing adoption and facilitating collaboration.
For example, while the operating system of Apple’s iPhones — iOS — is closed source, meaning it cannot be legally modified or reverse engineered.
- Google’s Android operating system is open-source, and therefore it is possible for smartphone OEMs such as Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus, etc to modify it for their hardware.