Amazon to integrate its last-mile delivery infra with ONDC

NEW DELHI : E-commerce giant Amazon will join the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform in India. As part of its initial collaboration, Amazon will integrate its Smart Commerce and logistics services, which include pickup and delivery, with the ONDC network.

Smart Commerce is a suite of SaaS products hosted on AWS that enables MSMEs to build and scale their businesses across digital mediums and integrate with the ONDCnetwork.

This partnership will enable Amazon to mobilise its industry-leading infrastructure and technology, including logistics and small business digitisation tools, to help the ONDC accelerate its objectives of digitally enabling small businesses and providing convenience and choice to customersacrossthecountry.Itwillalsobenefitmillionsof consumers with wider choices and provide greater technical support to the seller community, further empowering small businesses, the company said in a statement.

ONDC is a non-profit organisation established by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) with the aim of democratising e-commerce across the country. The ONDC network is currently piloted in 167 cities in the alpha phase, and two cities in the beta phase. A national launch is planned in early2023.

Tiwary added that Amazon was excited to help ONDC achieve its goals faster by providing its infrastructure andtechnology.

TheONDCnetworkprotocolenablesanyonetocreate an e-commerce marketplace and tap into the ONDC network to get products displayed and delivered without having to worry about logistics. T Koshy, Managing Director and Chief Executive of ONDC, commented, “We are happy that Amazon has a definite roadmap to being a part of the ONDC network and is taking its first step in cominginasthelogisticspartnerintheONDCnetwork.”

WTO report nds Global trade resilient following one year of war in Ukraine

GENEVA - A new WTO information note released recently reports that global trade remained resilient and performed better than pessimistic predictions for 2022 as economies greatly affected by the war in Ukraine found alternative sources of supply. For the longer-term outlook, new WTO simulations show the importance of strengthening the multilateral trading system, with least-developed countries likely to be hardest hit if international cooperation were to breakdown.

The note titled “One year of war in Ukraine: Assessing the impactonglobaltradeanddevelopment”estimatesthattrade growth in 2022 was above the WTO trade forecast of 3% issued in April and substantially higher than its estimates for more pessimistic scenarios for the year. The stability of global trade was also evident in global supply chains, confirmed by the 4% year-on-year growth of trade in intermediate goods in the secondquarterof2022.

“Global trade has held up well in the face of the war in Ukraine. Despite the devastation we have seen one year on, trade flows remained open. We have not seen the worst predictions foreseen at the onset of the war. Sharply higher food prices and supply shortages have not materialized thanks to the openness of the multilateral trading system and thecooperationgovernmentshavecommittedtoattheWTO,” Chief Economist Ralph Ossa said. “Resilience will ultimately be best served by fostering deeper and more diverse international markets, anchored in open and predictable traderules,”hesaid.

Russia's exports expanded by 15.6% in value terms because of an increase in prices particularly for fuels, fertilizers and cereals. However, estimates suggest Russia's exportvolumemayhavedeclinedslightly.