Microsoft has become the first multinational technology firm to join ONDC, a Government of India backed initiative to develop a first-of-its-kind open network for digital commerce. This is as per a report by the Economic Times.
ONDC was launched earlier this year by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), with an aim to create an inclusive e-commerce market and enable all kinds of sellers and buyers to leverage digitisation of commerce through its network.
Through this, Microsoft intends to introduce social eCommerce, i.e., group buying experience, in the Indian market. The US headquartered tech major intends to launch a shopping app for Indian consumers, along with their social circle, harnessing the ONDC network to discover the best pricing among retailers and sellers, a statement said.
“ONDC network is not just a model but a flexible idea that has a lot of explored and yet to be explored potential. As Microsoft plugs into the network, it’s a step in the same direction for both of us,” said T Koshy, MD, ONDC.
“By utilizing the strength of our open network users, Microsoft, too, can implement their creative ideas like social commerce swiftly. As we lay the foundation of a level playing field for every stakeholder in the industry, joining hands with Microsoft is a testament to our credibility to foster an open eCommerce ecosystem with numerous possibilities” This collaboration will help widen the models available on the network and create a level playing field for stakeholders.
It was reported in June that technology giants such as Microsoft and Oracle are looking to partner with ONDC to offer technology solutions that will enable companies to onboard the platform, allow it to operate smoothly and scale up in future.
They will add value to the base network, Koshy said. He had said ONDC was forming several components that were beneficial for network participants and policy makers.
For example, in the works were a registry of buyers and sellers and logistics providers, a network-wide reputation index, and an online dispute resolution framework.
Cloud will be an important enabler for a project of this magnitude because it helps reduce IT infrastructure costs, helps faster time to market, is elastic, which means it can increase or decrease demand capacity on an as-needed basis. More importantly, it can offer scalability for unplanned growth and demand and is secure since the platform will be generating a lot of data.
By 2030, the Indian eCommerce industry is anticipated to reach $400 billion, increasing at a 19% CAGR. ONDC aims to catalyse and accelerate this by enabling all kinds of buyers and sellers to leverage the digitisation of commerce through its network, as it is based on the concepts of decentralisation, openness, and greater user utility.
Source: The Economic Times