ONDC started the ‘Grand Hackathon’ to build e-commerce ecosystem in Agri sector.
The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), an initiative of the Indian government that aims to build an open network for buyers and sellers to make the current e-commerce ecosystem in India more democratic, has started a three-day ‘Grand Hackathon’ began on July 1, 2022.
The event is put on with the help of NABARD. It has two parts: the Agri Grant Challenge and the Agri Innovation Hackathon. It will show off the new ideas that can help the agricultural sector use e-commerce. The event is expected to have 600 people who will work on the hackathon challenges and technical requirements and find solutions that can be used on a large scale in the future.
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‘This is the first of many programs that ONDC will run with different groups over the next few months. We will work with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), the state’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to encourage SMEs to use this new approach.’ ‘We expect startups and participants to build smart solutions that can help farmers and farm producers digitize their product catalog, publish it on the ONDC protocol, and track orders and payments, among other things,’ T. Koshy, CEO of ONDC, told to a news agency.
ONDC Pilot Protocol
Koshy also said that the ONDC Protocol is done and that 150 organizations are in different stages of integrating with ONDC. On the plan to let customers use ONDC, he said that pilots are happening in six cities right now. These cities are Delhi, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Shillong, Lucknow, and Bhopal. Customers in these cities can only join the network if they are invited, and ONDC will likely start adding more customers in about a month.
For the winners of the event, there will be prizes and financial incentives worth a total of ₹1.2 cr. ONDC and NABARD will have interventions to help build on the solutions made during the hackathon. It is also planned as part of the second phase of rural tech initiatives.
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‘No other sector has the size and reaches of agriculture, and adding it to our network at this early stage will be important. India is a world leader in agriculture, and bringing them together with e-commerce will open up a lot of opportunities for everyone involved,’ Koshy said.
A spokesperson for NABARD said, ‘NABARD is excited to work with ONDC for this big event to make eCommerce work in the agriculture space.’
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