Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) has partnered with tech major Meta to enable small businesses to build seamless conversational buyer and seller experiences on WhatsApp.

This partnership will continue for the next two years and five lakh MSMEs will be reportedly digitally upskilled through the Meta Small Business Academy, which offers a certification to empower entrepreneurs and marketers to gain critical digital marketing skills to grow on the Meta apps.

Additionally, as part of the partnership, Meta will also support Sahayak, ONDC’s WhatApp chatbot, in enhancing the services offered on the bot as the single point of seller communication and customer communication for ONDC. 

Commenting on the partnership, T Koshy, MD & CEO of ONDC, said, “Our partnership with Meta will not only digitally upskill these businesses but will also enable them to connect with a customer base far and wide. We are confident that our collaborative efforts will pave the way for millions of small businesses by providing them with the right impetus for growth.”

On similar lines, Sandhya Devanathan, Vice President, Meta in India said, “With ONDC we look into supporting the government’s vision for Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), furthering our ongoing commitment to skilling small businesses and aiding this rapid digital transformation and growth story in the country.”

Earlier this year, Meta launched the ‘WhatsApp Se Wyapaar’ programme to upskill 10 million traders across 29 states in 11 Indian languages on the WhatsApp Business app. Today, there are more than 200 million users of the WhatsApp Business app across the world, and more than 60 per cent of people on WhatsApp in India message a business account.