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

New Delhi: Government plans to roll out its indigenously developed online e-commerce network in 100 Indian cities to provide millions of Kirana stores and consumers an alternative to multinational platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart. Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal yesterday announced the test-launch of the open-source system.

In a tweet, Mr Goyal said, after UPI, another game-changing idea to democratise commerce - ONDC. Get ready for a world of choice, convenience and transparency, he said. Additional Secretary in the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) Anil Agrawal said, the



project is massive as it will provide a wide choice to all consumers and retailers and the formal launch will take place after successful testing of the system.

He said, 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 was started in Bengaluru, will also cover cities such as Delhi, Coimbatore, Bhopal and Shillong.

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