ONDC Launches Academy to Educate Sellers and Network Participants

Government's initiative Open Network for Digital Commerce has collaborated with a subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange to launch an academy to provide information to sellers and network participants about simple ways to conduct e-commerce business. 

In the current phase, the ONDC Academy will provide learning content in text and video formats to sellers about managing their operations effectively on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), Joint Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Sanjiv said.

Citing an example, he said a villager without any knowledge of e-commerce can learn how to make a seller app (without technical know-how) with a technology service provider to aggregate all sellers from a nearby marketplace to make these products available online.

The academy was launched by ONDC in collaboration with NSE Academy Ltd, a subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange.

Each of the steps in the onboarding process and associated activities have been converted into interactive videos that have communicated the process in a meaningful manner, Sanjiv said.

In e-commerce, the main stakeholders include sellers, buyer apps, and logistics providers.

"The academy is a repository of educational and informative textual and video content. It will provide a curated learning experience providing guidance and best practices for a successful e-commerce journey with fewer setbacks," he added.

As the academy grows, the learning modules will cater to various roles within ONDC, including programmes for sellers as well as buyer network participant, and will be available in multiple Indian languages.

The academy will empower sellers and network participants to make informed decisions, provide best practices to manage the online business efficiently — including content from industry experts — and provide a forum to seek views from experts.

It would also enable certification issued by NSE Academy to individuals completing an assessment developed by the institute, which provides a badge to validate their correct understanding of managing operations across the network.

ONDC Chief Executive Officer T Koshy said the learning modules will cater to various roles within the network.

It will provide interactive videos and learning materials related to digital commerce offering programmes in multiple Indian languages.

ONDC, a Section 8 company, was incorporated on December 31, 2021. It is a DPIIT initiative to create a facilitative model to help small retailers take advantage of digital commerce. It is not an application, platform, intermediary, or software but a set of specifications designed to foster open, unbundled, and interoperable open networks.