ONDC Can Onboard Entire Farm Value Chain: Union Minister Piyush Goyal

The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) will be able to onboard the entire Indian farm value chain, particularly Farmer Producers' Organizations (FPOs), mandis, processors, exporters, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and small retailers, according to Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal.

Goyal was addressing the crowd virtually at the beginning of a three-day Grand Hackathon of ONDC and NABARD, where early-stage businesses would participate and seek to solve two problem statements to introduce eCommerce to agri tech. The prize money for the winners is Rs 1.2 crore.

The more we help our farmers access farm inputs and connect with markets using technology and innovation, the quicker our economy will expand, he said, adding that increasing farmers' income is a primary objective. Even if the government conceptualized and oversaw ONDC, he noted, private initiatives will eventually carry out its implementation. Small businesses will be given the same opportunity to engage in the market as major firms thanks to ONDC's support. According to him, this will remove the obstacles that big platforms currently face and allow smaller players to benefit from digital technologies.

According to him, as ONDC builds platform interoperability, it gives consumers more choice for items that are available close to where they live or that they need them. We will be able to see a revolution in the industry with items sold on various platforms and through various means of logistics and payment, he claimed.

"It will also get rid of a lot of unethical practices, such as Big Tech's use of algorithms, which force consumers to certain suppliers, who can prefer suppliers over others, who can have higher commissions from certain people and then promote their products as opposed to giving a choice to the consumer of all suppliers equally," he said.

He reasoned that doing this will also benefit mom-and-pop shops and other small retailers across the nation, preserving the livelihood of millions of people who would otherwise be put in danger by the rise of Big Tech.

Goyal recently spoke with participants in the ONDC platform's beta version trials, which are taking place in Coimbatore. Two days ago, ONDC went operational in Lucknow. After the five trial cities, where it first went live on April 29, it is now available in a sixth city.

The local Kirana shops will now not only compete with the contemporary establishments but also see a rise in sales. The ONDC will be essential to the digital transformation of the agri-sector and the democratization of the agricultural value chain. According to Goyal, a farmer from Himachal may now access all markets in the country and the world.

Additionally, it will help clients in selecting delivery, payment method, and quality and price. For an increasing number of people to easily use the services of digital e-commerce, he added, "I have also suggested that we look at local languages and regional languages in ONDC.

NABARD is a big development financial organization, reporting a balance sheet of Rs. 7.5 lakh crore yearly, according to NABARD Chairman Dr. GR Chintala. "We work for the Farmer Producers' Organisation and Off Farmer Producers' Organisation.  We also aim to empower women, but they do not yet have access to the market they are interested in. This is the point that NABARD believed ONDC could handle every issue. In this way, products might be standardized, cataloged, and connected to the network. The exponential market that ONDC will create for us is far greater than everything we have invested in it," he added.

India has 140 million farmers and they produce quite a lot but they're still at the mercy of the market. "Can we create a sustainable solution by creating a sustainable market? ONDC is going to help farmers and artisans to discover prices which they were denied for centuries," Chinthala said.