ONDC Looks To Enable Regional Languages On Its Network

The government’s ambitious ecommerce network Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) looks to add solutions that will enable it to add more regional languages to the network.

According to an ET report, ONDC CEO T Koshy stated that the network is considering adding Indic language support for both buyer and seller applications and there are some solutions that they are ‘encouraging’.

For this, it has been partnering with buyer applications, to offer language support on their platforms as well as asking sellers to upload their catalogues in multiple languages.

The report added that ONDC was looking for text-to-audio, translators and visual-focussed solutions in partnerships with other government agencies, but that the network has not taken a call on how it will add more languages.

The report comes shortly after the minister of commerce and industry, Piyush Goyal also suggested that ONDC should be made available in regional languages. He stated that for the project to scale and have more small sellers understand the network’s utility, it is mandatory to make it multilingual.

Vernacular Languages Must For Widening Reach

Even Inc42’s guide on the same has highlighted India’s multilingual culture and the need for vernacularism to facilitate ONDC’s reach. When Inc42 surveyed hyperlocal sellers and merchants selling on Amazon and Flipkart, it showed that so far only big players had entered the ONDC playground.

On the ground level, ONDC lacked awareness as sellers even stated that they did not know about the network. Thus, to truly make the network ‘ground-breaking’, neighbourhood stores need to be made fully aware of the benefits given the vernacular diversity of the country.

Notably, it has been a week since ONDC went live in Bengaluru. Despite its slow start, the government is optimistic that the network will yield better results. The commerce ministry has stated that more buyer and seller apps will join the network over the coming weeks, increasing the number of participants in the ONDC. 

By 2022, ONDC plans to reach around 100 cities and have 30 Mn sellers and 10 Mn vendors on the network.

Update | October 12, 2022 10:45 AM

Minor update – ONDC platform changed to ONDC network.

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