Google, under the parent company Alphabet Inc., has discussed with the Indian government the possibility of joining the country’s new open e-commerce network, according to Reuters.
The Indian government launched the pilot program, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), in April to level out the e-commerce playing field dominated by Amazon, Walmart, and other large online marketplaces.
ONDC will allow buyers to shop from one place across various network-enabled applications. By August, ONDC is expected to join 30 million sellers and 10 million merchants in an e-commerce platform reaching customers in 100 cities throughout India, according to Reuters.
The Economic Times, a newspaper in India, reported that Google is “exploring” a partnership that involves some of its businesses, including search and payments. Google Pay competitors PhonePe and Paytm have already partnered with ONDC.
Currently, Google’s business of digital commerce involves gathering listings but does not inventory or ship items. Google’s interest in ONDC, according to Reuters, would be related to the government’s Unified Payments Interface to manage financial transactions.
Google officials have neither confirmed nor released a statement about the discussions.
According to Reuters, the Indian government estimates the ONDC will be worth $350 billion by 2030. The appeal from the Indian government to sellers is a lower cost of business for listing items online.
But some in the e-commerce industry question the algorithm of the new platform and how listings will be displayed. Mahesh Narayanan, a former head of Google’s mobile ads business in India, told Reuters the highest sellers with the best ratings will most likely remain at the top of search results, which would create an unfair advantage for some.
Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, who has been credited with assisting India’s government in creating ONDC, told Entrepreneur India:
“We owe it to the millions of small sellers to show an easy way to participate in the new high-growth area of digital commerce. We are charting a new course, and the goal is to change the rules of the e-commerce game.”
He additionally stated, “In the upcoming years, you will see the possible expansion of credit and [democratization] so that millions of retailers will have access to the credit using digital footprints.”