To give online vendors access to AI tools, Google has started an accelerator programme for the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). Companies participating in this programme are qualified to receive a $25,000 grant.
In order to improve the buyer-seller experience on the platform, Google will provide ONDC core and infrastructure application programme interfaces (APIs) with access to Retail artificial intelligence technologies and PaLM API.
“The addition of Google Cloud’s Accelerator Program reinforces ONDC’s mission to revolutionize the ecommerce landscape, ushering in a new era of efficiency, agility, and customer-centricity. By streamlining the onboarding process through efficient core APIs, this milestone addition to the open network empowers enterprises to focus on their core competencies,” said T Koshy, the managing director and chief executive officer of ONDC.
Google also introduced Address Descriptors using Google Maps to improve the serviceability of ONDC orders. Customers can already use the tool to search locations by using landmarks and neighbourhood names in 25 Indian cities.
Undoubtedly, as Reuters revealed in May, Google has been in discussions with the Indian government about integrating its retail services with ONDC. Following the success of Google’s payments division thanks to the government’s Unified Payments Interface, this occurred.
According to a previous declaration made by ONDC’s Koshy’s in April, the government-backed ONDC has already registered more than 31,000 merchants for selling more than 37 lakh products.