The government-endorsed, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) will soon be open to buyers in foreign jurisdictions. In the first phase, ONDC would tap buyers in Singapore and the Middle East where there is a large Indian community. MD and CEO of ONDC, T Koshy, told CNBC-TV18 that the network was working on measures to give credibility to sellers on the portal.

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"We are almost in the final stages of completing the necessary protocol for international transactions. We will be able to demonstrate proof of concepts in a few months by having international buyers buy from India. Dun and Bradstreet will issue a number to every seller which will give credibility to the names on the platform. QCI will give a certificate to small enterprises. We want to give confidence to a large section of buyers that they are dealing with a reliable entity", he said.

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In the last six months, ONDC has seen strong growth in segments like food, grocery and mobility. The highest number of daily transactions at roughly 50,000 per day are coming from the rides or mobility segment. "Goods transactions are around 15,000-20,000 transactions per day. We have 45,000 merchants on the goods side and 60,000 merchants on the ride side", said Koshy.

The aim of the network says Koshy is to have 1,00,000 transactions per day by the end of 2023 and a larger presence of small and medium enterprises. The ONDC CEO said his priority in the coming months would be to rope in buying applications that already have a large digital customer base. "We want to work with the likes of large enterprises like McDonald, who can help scale up demand", he said.

ONDC is currently helping MSME's overcome teething troubles in digital markets as small enterprises do not have the ability to respond to expectations with speed and alacrity like larger players.

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(Edited by : Sangam Singh)

First Published:Jun 27, 2023 8:38 PM IST