Common Services Centre partner with ONDC to bring e-commerce to rural India

The government’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s Common Service Centres have joined forces with the Open Network for Digital Commerce. The partnership is designed to bring e-commerce to rural India and encourage entrepreneurship across the country. 

“We are delighted to see Common Service Centres on the ONDC Network, heralding a new chapter that empowers local entrepreneurship,” said ONDC’s CEO and managing director T Koshy, ET Retail reported. “Through the trusted and widespread network of CSCs, millions of citizens will now have access to essential e-commerce services. Together, we hope to tap into the entrepreneurial promise of village-level entrepreneurs to boost rural incomes aligned with the Atmanirbhar Bharat vision.”
 
As part of the tie-up, the CSC’s -e-Grameen’ app will be integrated with ONDC as a buyer application. This will enable rural Indians to access its e-commerce platform by visiting CSC and making purchases on the e-Grameen mobile app. In the second phase of the partnership, sellers registered on the CSC platform will be able to receive orders from people shopping on the ONDC network. 

“This partnership will create a new wave of opportunities to increase e-retail penetration to its maximum potential in rural India,” said CSC SPV’s CEO and managing director Sanjay Kumar Rakesh, the Economic Times reported. “This will pave the way for inclusive development in the far-flung areas of the country.”