The government of India plans to launch a new scheme to help micro and small businesses join Open Network for Digital Commerce and online product selling. The MSME ministry announced this trade enablement and marketing scheme with an amount of Rs 277 crore to focus on these small enterprises  expanding their online business and using digital means by joining the ONDC scheme, as reported by  the Economic Times.  

The initiative is taken by the government to help these SMEs compete in the digital landscape which  reduces the overall expenditure at low commissions in the online marketplace. The ministry is aiming  for 5,00,000 MSEs using this scheme and will be on work till 2027. These startups will be offered  subsidies by seller network participants to help them cover service costs such as managing accounts,  packaging, and logistics.  

ONDC is an open protocol-based network that was launched under the aegis of the department for  the promotion of Industry and Internal Trade in 2021. The network helps companies with local  commerce across various sectors including mobility and grocery by providing services at a lower cost in comparison to other platforms. ONDC reported a 23 percent increase month-on-month for its  transaction platform in May. The platform claims to have done more than 89 lakh transactions last  month in retail and ride-hailing. 

Earlier this year, ONDC also launched a DigiReady Certification Portal in partnership with the Quality  Council of India to help MSMEs. The portal aims to help small enterprises join the ONDC platform as  sellers. Various known startups including Paytm, PhonePe, Ola, and Meeship also integrated some of  their services with ONDC. Indian e-commerce is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 19 percent and cross  the $400 billion mark by 2030 this is why the government is trying to boost small companies into the  digital marketplace. 

Conclusion: 

Trase marketing scheme has been announced by the government of India to help small and micro  businesses go digital and join the Open Network for Digital Commerce. The government will use an  amount of Rs 277 crore to focus on these small enterprises to expand their online business and use  digital means by joining the ONDC scheme. This will help MSEs to compete with other e-commerce  companies in the digital landscape which reduce the overall expenditure at low commissions in the  online marketplace. Under this scheme, these startups will be provided with subsidies by seller  network participants to help them cover service costs such as managing accounts, packaging, and  logistics. This will help sellers to connect with the ONDC network and provide them with services  including the creation of a product catalog, and managing payments and accounts. The network helps companies with local commerce across various sectors including mobility and grocery by providing  services at a lower cost in comparison to other platforms. ONDC also launched a DigiReady  Certification Portal in partnership with the Quality Council of India to help small businesses and make  them join ONDC as sellers.