Govt to launch indigenously developed e-commerce network in 100 Indian cities

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The government is planning to launch an indigenously developed online e-commerce network in 100 Indian cities to provide kirana stores and consumers an alternative to multinational platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart.

• Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday announced the trial-launch of the open-source system.

• The beta launch will unveil the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and Registry's IT applications, which were launched in Bengaluru on Friday.

• UPI is another game-changing idea to democratise commerce.

• The project is being prepared in a big way as it will provide a wider choice to all consumers and retailers and will be formally launched after successful testing of the system.

• End-to-end testing is being done to create a playbook with an aim to launch it in 100 cities in six months.

• The initial test launch, which began in Bengaluru, will also cover cities such as Coimbatore, Bhopal, Delhi and Shillong.

• The system will have multiple options for both retailers and customers in terms of cataloguing, inventory, warehousing, suppliers, logistics and payments.