Amazon joins ONDC, the e-commerce network that plans to challenge the giant itself

Amazon has announced that it will join the Indian government’s ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) platform, a government-backed project aimed at enabling small merchants and kirana stores in parts of the country to access processes and technologies typically deployed by large e-commerce platforms

The development is particularly interesting given that ONDC’s very purpose is to “democratise” e-commerce in India which is largely captured by Amazon and Flipkart. An ONDC strategy paper published last year had flagged the rising dominance of global players in India’s e-commerce ecosystem, pointing out that the large quantum of investment required to build competitors to the integrated solutions offered by the big players has become an entry barrier for digital marketplaces.