Consumers In Bengaluru To Experience ONDC's New E-Commerce Revolution The objective of the beta test is to allow consumers to experience the network for the first time and gather feedback which will help further refine the network before a pan-India roll-out

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), an initiative of the department of promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT), ministry of commerce, government of India, will progressively open its network to consumers via participant applications in 16 pin codes spread across Bengaluru starting 30th September. The objective of the beta test is to allow consumers to experience the network for the first time and gather feedback which will help further refine the network before a pan-India roll-out. To begin with, consumers can place their orders in two categories, groceries and restaurants through buyer apps participating on the ONDC network.

"This is a milestone for ONDC and e-commerce in India. ONDC will democratise the e-commerce ecosystem by allowing all sellers to access all buyers and all buyers to access all sellers. Even for the beta test in Bengaluru, we have chosen the most difficult categories, groceries and restaurants. We are confident this beta test will give us important insights which will help us further refine our playbook before a pan-India rollout," said T. Koshy, MD and CEO, ONDC.

ONDC's debut in the city of Bengaluru is the first-step in making the entire e-commerce landscape more inclusive, accessible and experience-driven for all consumers with every seller being visible to every buyer. They will now also be able to purchase from every seller listed on the network, including local sellers who were not present on a digital platform earlier and have been e-commerce enabled for the first time.

In the ONDC terminology, 'buyer apps' refers to applications or websites that enable consumers to shop from all sellers available on ONDC, where consumers can shop online from buyer apps like Mystore, PayTM, and Spicemoney. Seller apps are applications or websites that enable sellers to join the network making their catalogues and inventory visible to buyers. The seller apps that are participating in the beta test are Bizom, Digiit, Enstore by Innobits, eSamudaay, among others.

As various businesses continue to onboard the network, more buyers, sellers, technology service providers, categories, and pin codes will be added progressively. Blowhorn, Craftsvilla, CSC Grameen e-store, Ekart, Global Linker (Faiita IT Mall), Grab, HDFC Bank, IDFC First Bank, ITC Store, Kotak Bank, Magicpin, Microsoft, Peppo, Petpooja, PhonePe, Shopalyst, Snapdeal and Zoho are in advanced stages of integration and expected to go live shortly, as per a statement.