DPIIT Hosts ONDC Startup Mahotsav in New Delhi

Delhi, May 18th, 2024: Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) organised the ‘ONDC Startup Mahotsav’, a primary of its form occasion, on seventeenth May 2024 at Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi. The occasion symbolized the celebration and collaboration of two of DPIIT’s flagship initiatives – the Startup India initiative and Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).

Secretary, DPIIT, Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh, underlined the Government’s unwavering dedication to nurturing and inspiring ecosystem for startup development and innovation. He mentioned, “The ONDC Startup Mahotsav is an inflexion level for startups in India to leverage the alternatives unlocked by ONDC. The community has quickly grown and matured over the previous one and a half years, and at this time’s session displays each the DPIIT’s and trade’s dedication to democratising digital commerce in India.”

The occasion witnessed participation of round 5,000 startups in hybrid mode. Over 125 ecosystem stakeholders together with startups, unicorns and excessive development companies corresponding to EaseMyTrip, OfBusiness, Winzo, Livspace, GlobalBees, Pristyn Care, Cars24, Physics Wallah, PolicyBazaar, and Zerodha, signed Letter of Intent (LoI) throughout the occasion. These LoIs signify the potential of ONDC and the eagerness of main startups of the nation to collaborate with the platform.

Joint Secretary, DPIIT, Shri Sanjiv, emphasised on the imaginative and prescient of the Government for the continual collaboration between the startups and the ONDC. He mentioned, “Startups can play a pivotal position in ONDC ecosystem by driving innovation, fostering competitors and enhancing shopper alternative. More than 125 startups have dedicated to onboard to ONDC community in at this time’s occasion displays the thrill and momentum of the nationwide initiative”.

MD & CEO, ONDC, Shri. T. Koshy mentioned, “The ONDC Startup Mahotsav marks a pivotal second in India’s digital transformation journey. By fostering collaboration and innovation inside our ecosystem, we’re empowering startups to redefine the foundations of the sport in e-commerce”.

The ‘ONDC Startup Mahotsav’ is a novel collaboration between the ONDC and the Startup India initiative. More than 5 lakh sellers have been onboarded on the platform, of which greater than 70% are small or medium sized sellers. In April 2024, ONDC facilitated round 7.22 million transactions. To realise this, the ‘ONDC Startup Mahotsav’ was organized. With an efficient affiliation between the startups and the ONDC, a holistic development of each the initiatives, the economic system at giant and alternatives to develop at scale are being unlocked.

Insightful panel discussions on topics as ‘Building a collaborative way forward for Indian E-Commerce’, ‘ONDC – Startup Success Story’ and ‘Driving Startup Growth via ONDC’ dwelled on the areas of mutual collaboration and the immense potential for startups and rising companies to develop and scale-up harnessing the community of ONDC. Distinguished audio system together with Member, Competition Commission of India, Shri Anil Agrawal; Joint Secretary, DPIIT, Shri E. Srinivas; Secretary General, Quality Council of India, Shri. Chakravarthy T Kannan; Advisory Council Member, ONDC, Smt. Anjali Bansal; DMD, SIDBI, Shri Sudatta Mandal; Co-founder, EaseMyTrip, Shri Rikant Pittie; and Co-founder, Winzo, Shri Paavan Nanda shared their views and ideas on these participating discussions. A ‘Masterclass on Enabling Startups on ONDC’ was additionally organised to handhold and mentor startups for on-boarding and efficient utilisation of ONDC.

The Government launched the Startup India initiative on sixteenth January 2016 with the intent of supporting entrepreneurs and constructing a sturdy startup ecosystem in the nation. From round 300 startups in 2016, at this time India is amongst the main startup hubs with greater than 1.3 lakh DPIIT recognised startups. These are working in greater than 55 sectors, bringing innovation throughout domains. The startups have created greater than 13 lakh direct jobs in the nation.

Another marquee initiative of the Government, the ONDC was launched in 2021 as a first-of-its-kind protocol, with a mission to democratize digital commerce. Today, ONDC is absolutely operational throughout India, with the digital infrastructure accomplished and rolled out to companies and the general public at giant. ONDC lowers entry-barriers to digital commerce, and offers degree enjoying field for all e-commerce gamers, particularly the small-scale companies and those that have been digitally excluded. Startups are innovators with agile working cultures offering good high quality services and products at aggressive costs. Startups are an important pillar for reaching the aim of self-reliance in the nation. Creating and discovering markets is a problem for startups that may be addressed via the ONDC platform, highlighting the importance of this collaboration.

Over the years, a conducive surroundings has been created for entrepreneurs in the nation. The Government itself has launched many revolutionary reforms and initiatives. ONDC is one such revolutionary initiative of the Government to democratize e-commerce, can now play an instrumental position in additional strengthening the startup ecosystem of the nation. This grand Mahotsav is the start and step one in direction of realizing this fruitful collaboration.