DPIIT Organizes Open Network for Digital Commerce Startup Mahotsav in New Delhi

Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) organized the ‘ONDC Startup Mahotsav’, a first-of-its-kind event, on May 17th in New Delhi in Vanijya Bhawan. The event 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 commitment to nurturing and encouraging ecosystem for startup growth and innovation.

He said, “The ONDC Startup Mahotsav is an inflexion point for startups in India to leverage the opportunities unlocked by ONDC. The network has rapidly grown and matured over the past one and a half years, and today’s session reflects both the DPIIT’s and industry’s commitment to democratising digital commerce in India.”

The event witnessed participation of around 5,000 startups in hybrid mode. Over 125 ecosystem stakeholders including startups, unicorns and high growth businesses such as EaseMyTrip, OfBusiness, Winzo, Livspace, GlobalBees, Pristyn Care, Cars24, Physics Wallah, PolicyBazaar, and Zerodha, signed Letter of Intent (LoI) during the event. These LoIs signify the potential of ONDC and the eagerness of leading startups of the country to collaborate with the platform.

Joint Secretary, DPIIT, Shri Sanjiv, emphasised on the vision of the Government for the continuous collaboration between the startups and the ONDC.

The ‘ONDC Startup Mahotsav’ is a unique collaboration between the ONDC and the Startup India initiative. More than 5 lakh sellers have been onboarded on the platform, of which more than 70 percent are small or medium sized sellers. In April 2024, ONDC facilitated around 7.22 million transactions. To realise this, the ‘ONDC Startup Mahotsav’ was organized. With an effective association between the startups and the ONDC, a holistic growth of both the initiatives, the economy at large and opportunities to grow at scale are being unlocked.

Insightful panel discussions on subjects as ‘Building a collaborative future of Indian E-Commerce’, ‘ONDC - Startup Success Story’ and ‘Driving Startup Growth through ONDC’ dwelled on the areas of mutual collaboration and the immense potential for startups and emerging businesses to expand and scale-up harnessing the network of ONDC.

Distinguished speakers including 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 thoughts on these engaging discussions. A ‘Masterclass on Enabling Startups on ONDC’ was also organised to handhold and mentor startups for on-boarding and effective utilisation of ONDC.

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