A New Era in E-commerce

The arrival of ONDC has disrupted India's e-commerce space. It will play a pivotal role in empowering millions of customers and merchants

- BY T. KOSHY

The arrival of India’s ‘techade’ with a focus on ‘Jai Anusandhan’ has brought forth a new paradigm of opportunities and possibilities through a focus on innovation. It is an era infused with technological prowess, as seen across the world with the coming of the fourth industrial revolution. The vision for India’s techade, however, is unique with an underlying value of empowerment. It’s a vision which harnesses a relationship between emerging technologies and those at the margins who have missed out on leveraging the power of these tools. It’s our nondigitally enabled small farmers, entrepreneurs, micro, small and medium enterprises, cottage industries, traders, artisans, weavers, etc., spread across the length and breadth of this country, who are being empowered.

Technology isn’t being looked at as a tool for simply bolstering economic productivity but for augmenting the productive capabilities of every stratum of society. It is no surprise that India ranks first in digital payments, first in data consumption, second in internet users and third in the number of unicorns. A technological structure is being constructed for the welfare of all. In this spirit, focussing on empowering the marginalised, India is undergoing a revolution in the e-commerce sector with the coming of the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).