Nilekani to join top govt panel as advisor to prevent digital monopolies

Nilekani, co-founder and non-executive chairman of Infosys has been included in a 9-member advisory council

The government has set up a nine-member advisory council, including Nandan Nilekani from Infosys and National Health Authority CEO R S Sharma, on steps required to design and accelerate adoption of open network for digital commerce (ONDC).

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in an order said it has initiated a project on ONDC and the task has been assigned to Quality Council of India.

"ONDC aims at promoting open networks developed on open sourced methodology, using open specifications and open network protocols independent of any specific platform," it said.

It is expected to digitise the entire value chain, standardise operations, promote inclusion of suppliers, derive efficiencies in logistics and enhance value for consumers.

"It has been decided to constitute an advisory council to advise the government on measures needed to design and accelerate adoption of ONDC," DPIIT said.

The other members of the council are QCI Chairman Adil Zainulbhai, Avaana Capital Founder Anjali Bansal, Digital India Foundation Co-Founder Arvind Gupta, National Payments Corporation India CEO Dilip Asbe, Suresh Sethi, MD and CEO, NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Ltd, CAIT Secretary General P Khandelwal, and Retailers Association of India CEO Kumar Rajagopalan.