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Microsoft To Join ONDC | Will it ends the dominance of Flipkart & Amazon ?

Microsoft joins  India's ONDC WHAT HAS HAPPENED? US firm Microsoft has become the first big tech company to join the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), A government-backed project which is aimed at enabling small merchants and mom-and-pop stores in parts of the country to access processes and technologies that are typically deployed by large e commerce platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart. The software giant intends to introduce social e-commerce - group buying experience in the Indian market, Which would include a shopping app for Indian consumers along with their social circle, harnessing the ONDC network to discover the best pricing among retailers and sellers. WHAT IS OPEN NETWORK FOR DIGITAL COMMERECE ? It is an initiative aimed at promoting open networks for all aspects of exchange of goods and services over digital or electronic networks. ONDC is to be based on open-sourced methodology, using open specifications and open network protocols inde
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Microsoft To Join ONDC | Will it ends the dominance of Flipkart & Amazon ?

Microsoft joins India's ONDC


WHAT HAS HAPPENED?

US firm Microsoft has become the first big tech company to join the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC),

A government-backed project which is aimed at enabling small merchants and mom-and-pop stores in parts of the country to access processes and technologies that are typically deployed by large e commerce platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart.

The software giant intends to introduce social e-commerce - group buying experience in the Indian market,

Which would include a shopping app for Indian consumers along with their social circle, harnessing the ONDC network to discover the best pricing among retailers and sellers.

WHAT IS OPEN NETWORK FOR DIGITAL COMMERECE ?

It is an initiative aimed at promoting open networks for all aspects of exchange of goods and services over digital or electronic networks.

ONDC is to be based on open-sourced methodology, using open specifications and open network protocols independent of any specific platform.

It is being developed as a counter to the current duopoly in the Indian e-commerce market which is largely dictated by Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart.

In May this year, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) went live with a test run of ONDC in cities like Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Bhopal, and Shillong where it plans to onboard 150 sellers.

WHAT DOES MICROSOFT JOINING MEANS FOR ONDC ?

Microsoft getting on board the the ONDC wagon means the project gets its first international marquee name ahead of its Bengaluru launch. A number of participants are currently live on the ONDC network, offering a number of services in the e-commerce supply chain such as buying, selling and offering logistics services.

Among those that are live are Paytm, which has joined the platform as a buyer, and Reliance-backed Dunzo, which is offering logistics services for hyperlocal deliveries.

Companies like Kotak, PhonePe, Zoho and Snapdeal are in the "advanced stage of development", according to the ONDC website.

Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and Airtel have already initiated integration with the network.

According to some media reports, e-commerce giants Flipkart and Amazon are also considering joining the network.

HOW DOES ONDC WORK ?

The ONDC platform lies in the middle of the interfaces hosting the buyers and the sellers.

So far, the buyer side interface is being hosted by Paytm, whereas the seller side interface is being hosted by other players like GoFrugal, etc.

When a buyer searches for an item on the Paytm app, from where ONDC has gone live, the app will connect to the ONDC platform,

Which will connect it to seller side interfaces that will list all the companies from where you can buy the particular item.

On ONDC, there will be several other backend partners such as logistics service providers, enterprise resource planners, e-commerce store hosting service providers, etc.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR ONLINE BUYERS ?

Microsoft joins

ONDC is being seen as the UPI-moment for the e-commerce market, and its whole claimed value proposition lies as "democratising" digital commerce,

Taking it away from the clutches of a handful of deep-pocketed companies, as is the case currently - a number of sellers can offer their goods and services on the network which could be accessed from different platforms, with the delivery and payments infrastructure being handled by different companies.

In theory, ONDC may enable more sellers to be digitally visible, which means that for online buyers, it could present increased options at a number of different price points.

One of the biggest criticisms of e-commerce giants globally has been that they have amassed critical data about users' buying patterns, which gives them an idea about what products are in demand at any given point in time.

There have been accusations made against companies like Amazon, in India and elsewhere, that it uses this data to launch similar products through an entity that it indirectly controls, usually at a price point regular sellers cannot match.

Q. Which among the following can serve as a tool to combat current account deficit ?

1. External Commercial Borrowings

2. Treasury bills

3. Special drawing rights

A) 1 only

B) 2 & 3 only

C) 1 & 3 only D) All of the above
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