New Delhi [India], May 22 (ANI): Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal during the "ONDC Elevate" program on Monday said that Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) was created to "democratise" the existing e-commerce ecosystem of the country.

During his virtual address at the "ONDC Elevate" program in Bengaluru, Goyal said that ONDC is an engine of growth that has the potential to redefine the industry completely.

Chairing the program, the minister said that a significant number of sellers on the network is itself a testimony to ONDC's impact as digital commerce is being reimagined, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry stated.

Goyal further engaged with all network participants during the open house, noting their feedback and guiding them to redouble their efforts to democratize digital commerce in India.

The Minister also noted in response to queries from participants that, "any marketplace joining ONDC should come with serious commitment, and not for namesake".

"When a platform comes on ONDC, it should be in the spirit of give and take, and not just simply taking benefit from the network without contributing back to its progress," the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said Minister as saying.

"ONDC Elevate" commemorated ONDC's one-year completion, fostering a collaborative environment by bringing together participants and ecosystem players of the network.

The members of the ONDC Advisory Council - Dilip Asbe, CEO, NPCI, Adil Zainulbhai, Chairman, Capacity Building Commission and Jaxay Shah, Chairman, QCI also attended the event.

The group also discussed the various milestones ONDC has completed in the past year.

"From the launch of beta testing on September 29, 2022, ONDC has scaled to 36,000 sellers, 45 Network participants and 8 categories, with a weekly average of 13,000 retail orders and 36,000 mobility rides per day with peak transactions reaching 25,000 retail orders on a day," Ministry of Commerce and Industry said.

India has developed some of the finest digital public goods infrastructure which could change lives the world over, and next in line could be its Open Network for Digital Commerce which currently is in its nascent stage of adoption.

India has taken the path of building the public digital infrastructure for serving citizens and UPI, and Jan Dhan, Aadhar and CoWin are some of the examples.

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is aimed at promoting open source networks for all to exchange goods and services on the internet, and most importantly it is independent of any specific platform.

Incorporated on December 31, 2021, ONDC goes beyond the current platform-centric digital commerce model where the buyer and seller have to use the same platform or application to be digitally visible and do a business transaction. (ANI)