ONDC to create new class of e-commerce users, propel online purchases to 500 mn users: Nandan Nilekani

Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani has said that e-commerce companies would need Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) as that would propel the online purchases to grow to 500 million transacting users. Currently, the transacting users are 80 million.

"ONDC will create a new class of e-commerce users. Suddenly, people who didn't think of e-commerce earlier will start thinking of it for convenience and order from their neighbourhood stores via ONDC," Nilekani said while speaking at an event organised by management consulting firm Redseer.

He also said that the west's internet infrastructure would not be applicable for India. This, he argued that the internet in US has broadly grown on the back of the high advertising revenue of $862 per capita shifting online. However, the number of India is as low as $7 per capita. He said that India's internet is led by transaction rather than advertisement.

“We needed a different kind of internet infra than West... Essentially, Indian internet is not advertising led, but transaction led... Your transaction history is itself a form of capital that will be unlocked at scale,” he said

While speaking at the event, he also said that India's digital public infrastructure has grown rapidly and that it has increased the bank account penetration from around 20% to over 80% in less than a decade.