MSMEs Need to Scale up Online Presence by Leveraging ONDC Platform: Minister P Rajeeve

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
With e-commerce growing at tremendous pace, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Kerala should scale up online marketing of their products by leveraging digital platforms like ONDC, Minister for Industries, Law and Coir P Rajeeve said.

The Minister was addressing a workshop organised by the Department of Industries and Commerce (DI&C) on making use of ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce), as part of Keraleeyam festival here on Sunday.

An initiative of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce), has proved a highly effective digital platform for tapping local, national and global markets for a wide range of products from MSMEs, Rajeeve noted.

However, MSMEs from Kerala are yet make a strong presence on ONDC though a whole range of products from the state enjoy a high reputation for their distinct features and quality, he said.

The DI&C will be organising training programmes across the state to facilitate MSMEs and traditional sector ventures to place their products on the ONDC platform to gain greater market visibility and enable consumers from any part of the world to place online orders for them, he said.

The week-long Keraleeyam, which has successfully showcased the strides made by Kerala in multiple sectors and presents the state’s unique socio-cultural features before a larger audience, could in subsequent years become a global event like Dubai Shopping Festival. Just like Tourism, the industrial landscape of Kerala is also on the cusp of a qualitative transition, Rajeeve added.

A. P. M. Mohammed Hanish, Principal Secretary, (Industries), Government of Kerala, spoke on the key features of ONDC and called for effectively leveraging of it by enterprises.

DPIIT Director Dr Bejoy John; K Ajith Kumar, Executive Chairman, Board for Public Sector Transformation; KINFRA Managing Director Santhosh Koshy Thomas; ONDC Senior Vice-President Nitin Nair; DI&C Additional Director, G Rajeev; Co-founder of Rapidor, Thomson Scaria and KSSIA State President A Nisaruddin also spoke.