ONDC (open network for digital commerce)

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) recently has issued orders appointing an advisory committee for its Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) project that is aimed at curbing “digital monopolies”. This is a significant step in the direction of making e-commerce processes open source, thus creating a platform that can be utilised by all online retailers.

The effort to create the Open Network (ONDC) is being led by the Quality Council of India, a standards body that works with industry groups to define and implement best practice across India’s public and private sectors.

In its expression of interest form for parties that wish to participate in the Network’s development, the Council stated: “Today, eCommerce markets work in silos, with each eCommerce platform connecting only its own merchants and customers to each other. ONDC will integrate these closed e-commerce ecosystems and allow each player to be discoverable to a wider market.”

The desired outcome is to “increase value for all participants by collectively expanding the e-commerce market while retaining its competitive synergies.”

The announcement of a nine-member advisory council appointed to drive development of the ONDC states that the effort “aims at promoting open networks developed on open-sourced methodology, using open specifications and open network protocols independent of any specific platform.
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UPI Like Platform for E-Commerce

Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of the Indian Retailers Association, has likened the ONDC to India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a platform operated by India’s Reserve Bank which enables real-time payments among banks and payment schemes like Google Pay.

The UPI was advanced as a way of improving access to banking services. The ONDC has been pitched as easing access to e-commerce services for India’s myriad small businesses.

No timeframe has been suggested for the ONDC’s delivery, and its exact mission remains nebulous as the advisory board sets to work.

But the intention of the plan is hard to miss: India’s government does not want e-commerce dominated by a handful of giants, even if one of the biggest local players — Flipkart — is an Indian success story. The ONDC is therefore also an expression of India’s “Atmanirbhar Bharat” self-sufficiency philosophy, and how it can sometimes best be met by making the government a service provider.

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Section -3

Many companies have attained stepladder growth by identifying the winds of change in policies, which sometimes open up new business models. Those companies are also able set the agenda for future industry reforms through sustained dialogues.

Policy agenda might be construed as a specific policy ask, but this is not always the case. Moreover, a good policy agenda is accomplished only after several revisions, lengthy discussions, and healthy debate. Therefore, in the best interest of industry, leading companies deliberate, discuss and voice their concerns to the policy makers and parliamentarians.

Given the potential for a seismic shift in our nation’s political and regulatory landscape, we believe; these are times when close attention should be paid to regulatory developments. In times to come, when regulatory supervision is only going to increase, more proactive companies would continue to bear the fruit of favourable and accommodating rules.
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Section -4

The ripple effects of a tumultuous 2020 are likely to be even more enduring and impactful than the forces that initially triggered them. In the aftermath of Covid the government is determined to build the economy through incentives like PLI schemes to boost domestic manufacturing, amending FDI regulations, setting aside startup funds, accelerating digital transformation, building infrastructure and going ahead with its ambitious disinvestment and asset monetization plans.

All of this would entail administrations pulling regulatory and legislative levers to implement its priorities. We are here to help your business along with implications for how to respond to shifts. Numerous companies and hyper growth startups have been a beneficiary of our advocacies and interventions.
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Section - 5

We have reimagined the ways how the process of new age policy making would be.

Over the last decade, the government has taken a more professional approach to policy making.There has been a movement away from policy advice by generalists to one informed by concepts of risk, management, and delivery of services.

Our approach to policy advisory incorporates the perspectives of ministers as well as civil servants, since policy is the responsibility of both parties, and a product of their joint efforts. Bureaucrats, members of standing committees, joint parliamentary committees and opinion leaders can be persuaded to take a more proactive and participatory role in the emerging grey areas in policy dialogues.
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Section -6

India remains a complex market. It is best to view India not as a single market, but as a series of interconnected regional markets where the regulatory and investment climate changes from one state to another.

Many states have created investment cells to attract business and have framed policies around them but the lack of coherence between the launch of new policy initiatives and policy stewardship leaves a lot to be desired. While most of the state civil servants acknowledge that they have to be innovative in their approach, there is a lack of clarity over what this means in practice. The ensuing implementation of reform policies is therefore likely to be heavily shaped by the culture. It has been the case that few states in India, receive the new policy ideas like Smart City Mission and Ayushman Bharat very attractive and scalable yet difficult to implement due to logistical and legacy issues.

To correct such perceptual anomalies and resistance, policy discussion needs to be tailored to the culture and existing economic opportunity present in the state.
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Section -7

Many companies have attained stepladder growth by identifying the winds of change in policies, which sometimes open up new business models. Those companies are also able set the agenda for future industry reforms through sustained dialogues.

Policy agenda might be construed as a specific policy ask, but this is not always the case. Moreover, a good policy agenda is accomplished only after several revisions, lengthy discussions, and healthy debate. Therefore, in the best interest of industry, leading companies deliberate, discuss and voice their concerns to the policy makers and parliamentarians.

Given the potential for a seismic shift in our nation’s political and regulatory landscape, we believe; these are times when close attention should be paid to regulatory developments. In times to come, when regulatory supervision is only going to increase, more proactive companies would continue to bear the fruit of favourable and accommodating rules.
bt_bb_section_top_section_coverage_image
bt_bb_section_bottom_section_coverage_image

Section -8

The ripple effects of a tumultuous 2020 are likely to be even more enduring and impactful than the forces that initially triggered them. In the aftermath of Covid the government is determined to build the economy through incentives like PLI schemes to boost domestic manufacturing, amending FDI regulations, setting aside startup funds, accelerating digital transformation, building infrastructure and going ahead with its ambitious disinvestment and asset monetization plans.

All of this would entail administrations pulling regulatory and legislative levers to implement its priorities. We are here to help your business along with implications for how to respond to shifts. Numerous companies and hyper growth startups have been a beneficiary of our advocacies and interventions.
bt_bb_section_top_section_coverage_image
bt_bb_section_bottom_section_coverage_image

Section - 9

We have reimagined the ways how the process of new age policy making would be.

Over the last decade, the government has taken a more professional approach to policy making.There has been a movement away from policy advice by generalists to one informed by concepts of risk, management, and delivery of services.

Our approach to policy advisory incorporates the perspectives of ministers as well as civil servants, since policy is the responsibility of both parties, and a product of their joint efforts. Bureaucrats, members of standing committees, joint parliamentary committees and opinion leaders can be persuaded to take a more proactive and participatory role in the emerging grey areas in policy dialogues.
bt_bb_section_top_section_coverage_image
bt_bb_section_bottom_section_coverage_image

Section -10

India remains a complex market. It is best to view India not as a single market, but as a series of interconnected regional markets where the regulatory and investment climate changes from one state to another.

Many states have created investment cells to attract business and have framed policies around them but the lack of coherence between the launch of new policy initiatives and policy stewardship leaves a lot to be desired. While most of the state civil servants acknowledge that they have to be innovative in their approach, there is a lack of clarity over what this means in practice. The ensuing implementation of reform policies is therefore likely to be heavily shaped by the culture. It has been the case that few states in India, receive the new policy ideas like Smart City Mission and Ayushman Bharat very attractive and scalable yet difficult to implement due to logistical and legacy issues.

To correct such perceptual anomalies and resistance, policy discussion needs to be tailored to the culture and existing economic opportunity present in the state.
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