GIDC initiates awareness raising on government-backed e-communication platform

Panaji: The central government-backed Open Digital Commerce Network (ONDC) found few takers among Goa’s SMEs, with lack of information being a major factor in reluctance.

The Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) has now submitted a proposal to the industrial promotion department and the ONDC internal trade team to organize awareness sessions in every industrial estate.

“Many people see ONDC as another Amazon, Swiggy or Flipkart. There is a huge difference between what ONDC is and a typical e-commerce website and that is the awareness we are trying to convey,” said GIDC Managing Director Pravimal Abhishek.

The GIDC Connect workshop at the Verna industrial estate showed that very few units are aware of the benefits of ONDC.

“ONDC is a platform that allows small businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to reach a large group of sellers. This is a huge opportunity for market access. We cannot force everyone to use ONDC. It is the user who decides whether he wants to sell his product on ONDC or not. All we are saying is, look, there is an opportunity here, there is a better way to do e-commerce,” Abhishek said.

Aditi Singha, vice-president, expansion projects, ONDC, said ONDC enables seamless connections between buyers, technology platforms and retailers, revolutionizing the e-commerce ecosystem in the state.