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The government’s initiative for an open e-commerce marketplace, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), has the power to spawn thousands of startups, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday (4 July). 

“The huge success of UPI has democratised India’s payment system. Similarly, in the next five years, we will have ONDC democratise the e-commerce sector of the country,” Goyal said at an event for the release of rankings for states based on their support to the startup ecosystem.

Referring to the likes of Flipkart and Amazon, who dominate the ecommerce sector in the country currently and have been under government’s scrutiny for a slew of reasons, Goyal said that the ONDC has the power to produce thousands of unicorns.

“Rather than three companies being 100 billion or one trillion size, you will have a thousand companies each of a billion dollar. That is what ONDC has the power to do,” he added.

The minister also urged the states to learn from each other as to how they can boost their startup ecosytems. He also asked the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to onboard more startups on the Government E-Marketplace (GeM), saying that now even more services have been brought under the GeM.

He also talked about the novel startup-focused mentorship program, MAARG (Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience and Growth) which will help startups at the ideation stage to get support and facilitate them in actualising their ideas.

Enumerating startup-focused initiatives, Anurag Jain, secretary of DPIIT, said that a number of government-led initiatives including JAM (Jandhan, Aadhar, Mobile), Digital India, Gatishakti, Ease of Doing Business are driving the startup ecosystem. 

“If the startup system has to grow further, the biggest role has to be played by states. We can play a facilitative role,” he added.

MAARG portal is essentially developed as a tool for startups to help them get mentorship or a mentor in any part of the country. 

With ONDC, the government is looking at ending the dominance of ecommerce giants like Flipkart and Amazon and providing a level playing field to small businesses.

The Centre plans to expand ONDC’s operations to 75-100 Indian cities by August this year. Besides, CSC SPV (common service centre – special purpose vehicle), which will help ONDC foray in Indian villages, will be live by the end of 2022. 

Earlier, Goyal had said that seven companies, including one buyer, five sellers and one logistics company, had integrated apps with the ONDC, while other companies were in advanced stages of integrating their apps. 

Nearly 24 startups, including Dunzo, Paytm, Meesho, and subsidiary companies of Flipkart, have been onboarded on the ONDC so far. In May, the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) also held talks with the Centre to allow its members to join the ONDC’s pilot run.

According to an IBEF report, India’s ecommerce sector, which was pegged at $46.2 Bn in 2020, is poised to touch $188 Bn mark by 2025.