ONDC which means Open Network for Digital Commerce, the Government is going to start it soon. The Government has made this scheme to end the monopoly in the e-commerce market. According to the Government, the work of ONDC in the digital space will be the same as that of UPI in the digital space and the objective will be to provide equal opportunities to all in the digital e-commerce space and digitize the entire value chain so that the business process of e-commerce is standardized. More suppliers will be able to enter the online space and customers will get more value. It is clear from its name that it will be an open digital commerce platform whose source code will be open to all participants like a seller, buyer, service provider, logistics, payment gateway, or anyone. To implement this and break the monopoly in this sector, the Government will make it mandatory for all the e-commerce companies running their private and closed platforms like Amazon and Flipkart to come on this ONDC. Just understand it in such a way that before the arrival of UPI, Paytm or other fintech companies had their own platforms, and after the launch of UPI, the Government made it mandatory for everyone to come on the UPI platform. Now no one has a monopoly on the technology of payment, using the source code of UPI, fintech companies can provide payment facilities, and the customer can download any UPI app and make payment from any payment app to any other payment app.
To understand this, we have to understand the current e-commerce model and the UPI model. Like Amazon where the seller and buyer have to deal only at Amazon, and you cannot go to Amazon and buy items from the seller registered on Flipkart, ONDC has resolved this issue. Now let's understand the UPI model, we have seen the payment before UPI, as of now every mobile user, the shopkeeper has their own QR code, that QR code will be visible everywhere and anyone can take or give payment through that code. Now how does this UPI work? This UPI is an open networked digital commerce ecosystem, in this, on one hand, Fintech companies and banks are functional through a service provider application, and on the other hand, customers like us or shopkeepers are connected through user application. Applications on both sides are connected on this platform. If the customer has downloaded one of the user applications such as Paytm, then he can transfer money to any other's application like BHIMpay, GPay, or PhonePe, it is not that the Paytm person can transfer money only to the Paytm person. In the same way, if there is an application, receiving money on the other end, then it is not that it will receive only from GPay, they may accept money from any application. This Means UPI is such an open network that has ended the private monopoly of the private application and made it open to all and non-discriminatory too. Each one, to use the UPI facility, will have to use the same ecosystem, there will be no separate private platform.
Now think of it in such a way the ONDC is going to be available to all of us like UPI, in our mobiles, streets, neighborhoods, and at everyone. It's a matter of a few times and the Government is going to do it. ONDC is going to democratize e-commerce by breaking the monopoly of selected companies or websites. Like UPI, it will be an open network digital commerce ecosystem in which all the features of e-commerce will be on it together with all the players of e-commerce, including behind-the-scenes players like logistics, warehouses, payment gateway, an artisan, or a customer like us. It will be one ecosystem that is going to be mandatory for all e-commerce platforms to come, and everyone will have to board. Now if you go to Amazon, you will not see the listed sellers with Amazon only, you will get all the sellers according to your search criteria, irrespective of whether they are registered with Amazon or not or they are registered at any other platform or on their portal or created their own digital space.
On this open network, unlike erstwhile private e-commerce platforms that used to work like a box in which logistics providers, sellers, payment gateways, coupons, etc. were tied in the form of a bundled bundle, now all of them will be unbundled i.e. independently active on this platform and further rebundle again as needed. A service provider or a small shopkeeper will now be free from logistic problems, he will get many existing logistics providers on this platform with whom he can tie up and grow his business. Now technology will no longer be the inheritance of selected hands, it will remain open for all. Since this will be a platform of open source code, so anyone can use it to create an application and come to this platform such as Android.
Many people think of it as a super aggregator, super platform, or platform of the platform but this is not true, it works like an orchestra that unbundles all the processes first and then leaves them in the open market to achieve their best. After unbundled It will be rebundled again as needed and works exactly like an orchestra in which everyone is alone and everyone is interconnected too to create a rhythm of the deal and as much higher the rhythm will be, the deal will be so high. It is supposed to act as a facilitator and not an operator himself. This is a change from an operator-driven monolithic platform-centric model, to a facilitator-driven, interoperable decentralized network that is operated as a facilitator in which the sub-players of this digital ecosystem are participants. It unbundles and re-integrates them all through an open network and gives them the freedom and convenience to rebundle them on demand, rather than becoming a super-platform or platform of platforms themselves due to inherent problems with individual platforms.
As per me, It is the application of Eternal Economics (Energy of Synergy) that has discovered the inherent and invisible value in the digital ecosystem which was scattered at the doorsteps of different platforms. Think of it like this, it deals with the need-based self-disciplined combination of all the instruments instead of individual instruments like an orchestra, in search of such music that will create an infinite variety of music and its value.
This open network will free the supply chain from the clutches of middlemen and empower all players, consumers, merchants, and providers of support services. This will be most impactful for small businesses that want to unlock innovation and grow their operations through digital commerce that was previously inaccessible. Now the UPI is done, this concept is no longer limited to the retail sector, it can be extended to any digital commerce whether wholesale, mobility, food delivery, logistics, travel, urban services, etc. be it B2C or B2B. It will also enable the autonomy of buyers and sellers and free them from the shackles of being pegged to a single platform, they will now be visible on any search engine, just to get into the digital arena through its easy-to-open protocol which the ground is now a level playing field for everyone and now no one is going to play arbitrarily here.
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