Fair price shops debut on ONDC in Himachal Pradesh's Una, Hamirpur districts

As a step towards the Digital India initiative, Sanjeev Chopra, Secretary of the Department of Food and Public Distribution, launched a pilot program to onboard a total of 11 fair price shops (FPSs) in the Una and Hamirpur districts of Himachal Pradesh on the Open Network Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform on Wednesday, February 7.

According to a press release by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution, this is the first time that Fair Price Shops are being onboarded on the ONDC platform. This is to serve as a model for statewide and nationwide adoption in the future. The pilot was launched virtually in 5 fair price shops in Una and 6 fair price shops in Hamirpur districts.

Speaking on the occasion, Chopra said that this landmark initiative adds to the continuous efforts of the department in transforming the fair price shops. This effort aims at providing additional avenues of income generation for FPS dealers along with enhancing beneficiary satisfaction.

Furthermore, he underlined that this initiative will provide numerous benefits for FPS dealers, including visibility in the digital marketplace, access to a larger customer base beyond NFSA beneficiaries, and the ability to compete on an equal footing with large retailers and e-commerce platforms.

Additionally, he mentioned that beneficiaries who face difficulties in making online purchases can approach the FPS dealer to make online orders on their behalf.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) founded ONDC, as a non-profit organisation, to advance open e-commerce. ONDC, which was launched on December 31, 2021, is a step up from the existing platform-centric digital commerce paradigm, which requires both the buyer and the seller to utilise the same platform or application to transact business and be visible online.

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