By Suraksha P
Copyright indiatimes
The government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) launched its financial assistance programme 10.0 on Wednesday.The financial assistance, effective until December 31, aims to support emerging businesses, small-scale operators seeking scale and more established participants exploring new business adjacencies or markets.For this quarter, the assistance has been designed to align with the festive season demand, supporting buyer and seller network participants in categories such as grocery, fashion, electronics, beauty & personal care, health & wellness and home & kitchen.The key segments include food and beverage (F&B) programme. The financial assistance is available for both buyer and seller participants, with a targeted programme specifically catering to sellers in Chennai. Buyer participants can receive up to Rs 25 per delivered order with a minimum order value of Rs 99, provided they show a 25% growth in order volume month-over-month. Seller participants in Chennai can claim up to Rs 40 per delivered order, with eligibility subject to bearing full delivery charges and no additional fees charged to buyers.ET has seen a copy of the communication sent to network participants. This initiative provides financial assistance to network participants involved in retail commerce on the network.The grocery and retail programme, on the other hand, covers a broad range of categories with base support and booster schemes. Buyers can get up to Rs 40 per delivered order (minimum order value Rs 199), with additional scale-based incentives depending on order volumes during the period. Sellers enjoy tiered financial assistance based on monthly order fulfilment volumes, aiming to ease logistical and operational costs.The programme includes eligibility criteria. Participants must show specific growth percentages in order volumes and cross-entity transactions to qualify. Assistance has been capped with claim limits of up to Rs 40 lakh per month per participant group, to prevent long-term dependence on subsidies.ONDC aims to ease operational challenges and aid in market expansion for merchants and buyers on the network. The network facilitated 3.69 million orders in July and 3.76 million in August, as per ONDC website.
