The authorities is at a “pretty superior stage” of finalising a well-coordinated e-commerce coverage and client safety guidelines, which is able to incorporate provisions of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh mentioned on Thursday.
“E-commerce guidelines and e-commerce coverage can be congruent with one another… That train is at a reasonably superior stage,” Singh advised reporters.
The remarks come on a day the variety of day by day transactions on the platform has gone up 500 instances because the starting of this yr with the variety of retail retailers added to its roster rising 40-fold.
ONDC mentioned the variety of retail retailers on the community grew to over 35,000, up from about 800 since January.
The complete day by day order quantity has elevated from 50 to over 25,000, as of final week.
ONDC has additionally expanded its geographic footprint from 85 cities at first of the yr to over 230 now.
The government-backed community has additionally made appreciable progress within the mobility area.
It had onboarded Namma Yatra, a Bengaluru-based auto reserving app, in April this yr to assist native companies compete with bigwigs reminiscent of Ola and Uber.
In Kochi, ONDC entered the mobility sector in January.
The two cities mixed, it mentioned, are witnessing greater than 35,000 rides a day.
“ONDC is a community enabler and never a platform, and subsequently it has systematically labored in direction of including extra community members, retailers, cities and transactions (orders per day) to the community,” the corporate mentioned.
Its community members have elevated from 26 in January to 46.
Notable additions on the customer facet embody PhonePe’s Pincode and Airpay, whereas enterprises reminiscent of HUL and ITC have gone dwell on the vendor facet.
The community commenced its ‘Alpha’ testing, with its first-ever real-world transactions, in April final yr.
It subsequently started its ‘beta testing’ in Bengaluru through the grocery and meals supply segments on the finish of September.
ONDC additionally ventured into different domains reminiscent of style, magnificence and private care, electronics and home equipment in January, that are additionally regularly increasing.
Since they went dwell, these segments have recorded over 1,300 transactions, whereas 600 retailers have been added.
Most of those orders have been intercity, with main logistics suppliers reminiscent of ShipRocket, Delhivery, Loadshare, and so on., being part of the community.
The community just lately made a giant splash within the on-line meals supply area, butting heads with Swiggy and Zomato by providing cheaper meals gadgets.
As a consequence, site visitors on the community has drastically elevated.
The on-line meals supply area is presently a duopoly.
Zomato is the highest participant out there with a 56 per cent share, whereas Swiggy instructions the remaining 44 per cent, as of This fall of FY23, in accordance to analysts at HSBC.
Amid fears that meals aggregators Zomato and Swiggy can be beneath stress from competitors from government-backed ONDC, Singh mentioned the federal government doesn’t need to transfer anybody out of enterprise and needs all e-commerce gamers to be part of the community.
ONDC, although, is touted to upset this duopoly by reducing out the middlemen between eating places and clients.
The present market leaders reportedly cost increased commissions of 20-25 per cent as in opposition to ONDC’s 3-5 per cent.
Despite the latest surge in volumes, the community mentioned it has maintained key efficiency indicators, reminiscent of order fill price and supply timelines, which are in line with present trade requirements.
The DPIIT secretary added that the thought behind the ONDC was to try to create a reasonably inclusive taking part in discipline for various companies, significantly smaller gamers, who might not get entry to the e-commerce portals immediately.
“Because of the improved competitors, the buyer additionally positive aspects.
“But that isn’t the quick intention. It’s not like we are attempting anyone out of enterprise or we’re an upfront competitor to any specific portal or e-commerce supplier.
“We need all e-commerce gamers to be a part of this community,” he mentioned.