Guwahati: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, said the agriculture sector will be brought to the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). The ONDC is an initiative aimed at promoting open networks for all aspects of the exchange of goods and services over digital or electronic networks, which is gaining increasing traction in the industry.

A total of seven companies—one buyer-side app, five seller-side apps, and one logistics service provider app—have adopted ONDC protocols and built their own ONDC-compatible apps.
These apps have been able to successfully complete cascading transactions across the ONDC network during the pilot phase in five designated cities—Bengaluru, New Delhi, Bhopal, Shillong, and Coimbatore—in grocery and food and beverages segments.

The information was provided during the meeting of the ONDC Advisory Council chaired by to review the progress made in the project in New Delhi today.

The meeting reviewed the status of the pilot launched on April 29, 2022, and discussed plans for a faster rollout of the ONDC platform to a larger number of traders, categories of goods, geographies, and companies. The success achieved has ignited tremendous interest in many new companies, and a large number of companies on the buyer side, seller side, and logistics side are now building their own apps and are in advanced stages of integration with ONDC.

While the pilot phase of ONDC has given promising results with traders who were already digitally present, ONDC must prioritize strategies toward the inclusion of non-digital traders, handicraftsmen, and artisans so that the benefits of e-commerce may be available to these sections.

Watch: https://twitter.com/PiyushGoyal/status/1540010182977040384?s=20&t=S52C22g5Et5iLgCT5PwZqQ

The Minister asked the department to launch a pilot with a focus on non-digital traders from one single market. He said the local trade associations should be involved in the exercise and necessary measures for awareness generation and capacity building of various stakeholders should be taken.

During the meeting, it was informed that the hackathon is being organized from July 1-3 to build innovative solutions for FPOs (Farmer Producer Organizations). The Minister said that ONDC may prove to be an invaluable tool to assist farmers in finding the right prices for their produce.