ONDC have to address liability issue to build trust: Consumers Affairs secy

Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh on Monday asked the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to resolve the issue relating to liability, which is important for consumers to get satisfactory services.

He said that the government-promoted ONDC has to work on fixing liability in case a consumer does not get the right product.

ONDC is an initiative of the Commerce and Industry Ministry to create a facilitative model to help small retailers take advantage of digital commerce.

It is not an application, platform, intermediary or software but a set of specifications designed to foster open, unbundled, and interoperable open networks.

"If I order through an app of a bank through Amazon and buy it from a seller located elsewhere and I get the wrong phone, then who is liable? So the issue of liability...

"I keep telling (ONDC CEO) Mr T Koshy that you have to address the issue of liability otherwise this thing is not going to work," Singh said at the 'Deloitte Growth with Impact Government Summit'.

Incorporated on December 31, 2021, ONDC is a Section 8 company.

"I hope ONDC becomes a success, but in the law where does ONDC fit in? It is neither the seller, nor the buyer. But If I am buying through the app...if something goes wrong, there are five parts of the chain (in ONDC supply chain), then who is liable," he added.

He said that if the government is a part of it, and if something goes to Court, everytime the liability will come to the government.

"Before things like ONDC become mammoth and huge, the issue of liability must be addressed," he said.

When asked about the issue, an official said that the ONDC is working to provide a system to the consumers so that grievance redressal is done in a proper manner.