Policy Wrap: ONDC expected to cross 200,000 daily transactions by the end of 2023, launches academy to educate participants, Spain antitrust regulator fines Amazon, Apple $218 million, and more
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ONDC
ONDC launches academy to educate sellers, network participants about the platform
A subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the government initiative Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) have joined forces to develop an academy that will educate sellers and network participants on easy ways to do e-commerce business.
The ONDC Academy will now offer sellers learning materials in text and video formats for going about their operations efficiently on the network.
Sanjiv, a Joint Secretary in the Department for the Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), used the example of how a villager without any experience in e-commerce could learn how to create a seller app with a technology service provider (TSP) without any technical knowledge in order to make these products available online.
Every stage of the onboarding process and its related activities have been transformed into interactive movies that effectively describe the process.
The academy is a collection of written and visual materials that are instructive and enlightening. It will offer a curated learning environment with recommendations and best practises for an e-commerce journey that is successful and has fewer setbacks.
The learning modules, which will be offered in a variety of Indian languages as the academy expands, will appeal to different positions within ONDC, including training for vendors as well as buyer network participants.
The academy provides best practises to operate the online business effectively, including content from industry professionals, and provides a venue to seek opinions from experts. It also empowers sellers and network participants to make informed decisions.
Additionally, it would allow NSE Academy to certify individuals who successfully complete an evaluation created by the organisation, awarding them a badge that verifies their accurate comprehension of managing operations across the network.
ONDC expected to cross 200,000 daily transactions by the end of 2023
According to a report from financial services company ICICI Securities, the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is anticipated to grow up to 200,000 daily transactions by the end of the calendar year 2023. According to projections, mobility will account for half of all transactions and retail for the other half.
From the 75,000 to 80,000 transactions it presently hosts each day, ONDC aspires to reach that scale. Currently, there are over 100,000 merchants on the site, with 60,000 of them operating in the mobility sector. 50,000 retailers are present on the site currently.
The ICICI Securities letter stated that ONDC will not go public and will not pay dividends but hopes to create a self-sustaining financial module.
Additionally, ONDC is working to provide a network-wide rating system. Both buyers and sellers in B2B transactions will have ratings. The feature is still under development and will be released in stages. It consists of three parts: rating, scoring, and badging.
To expedite the implementation of ONDC, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry has also appointed State Nodal Officers. The officers' goal is to speed up network customization and adoption in each state.
ANTITRUST
Spain antitrust regulator fines Amazon, Apple $218 million for colluding to restrict online sales
On Tuesday, Spain's antitrust watchdog announced that it had fined Amazon and Apple a combined total of €194.1 million ($218.03 million) for conspiring to restrict the online sale of gadgets from Apple and rivals in Spain.
Anti-competitive conditions were incorporated in the two contracts, which were signed on October 31, 2018, that gave Amazon the authority to serve as an authorised Apple dealer in Spain, according to the Spanish National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC).
A fine of €143.6 million was imposed on Apple and €50.5 million on Amazon. The two businesses have two months to challenge the ruling.
The two businesses arbitrarily reduced the number of Apple goods merchants on the Spanish Amazon website, according to CNMC.
Amazon also reduced the ability of retailers in the European Union based outside of Spain to access Spanish customers as a result, and it restricted the advertising Apple's competitors were allowed to place on its website when users searched for Apple products, according to the regulator. More than 90% of the existing retailers who were using Amazon's market place to sell Apple devices were blocked.
Following the agreement between the two digital behemoths, Spain's online Apple device sales prices increased.
Microsoft-Activision deal back in hands of UK competition regulator after court grants adjournment
After an appeals court granted an adjournment, the Activision Blizzard acquisition by Microsoft is once again in the hands of the UK's antitrust authority, and the arguments for why the country should reconsider its opposition to the acquisition have been made public.
As the United States fights to get UK approval to buy Activision, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) laid out Microsoft's arguments for reconsideration on Friday.
The CMA has since reopened the matter after initially blocking the $69 billion merger in April due to worries about how it would affect competition in the market for cloud gaming.
The week beginning August 7 is when the CMA expects to arrive at a new provisional assessment on the revised deal.
On Monday, the Competition Appeal Tribunal in Britain gave the adjournment its provisional approval, pending additional filings from the parties, and later on Friday, officially granted it.
POLICIES AND REGULATIONS
Cybersecurity bill in the works to clearly define regulations on online safety
The Centre is developing the outline of a cyber-security bill that could define various aspects of online safety and lay out objective guidelines and rules defining what constitutes cyber fraud, providing a modern legal framework to address 21st-century crime that was previously dealt with by modified provisions of British law from the 19th century.
The proposed legislation, which could either operate as an addition to or be a part of the bigger Digital India Bill, will likely also establish who is considered a cybercriminal under the new law's terms and detail the criminal penalties in situations of cyber breaches. It is at a pre-drafting stage right now.
Currently, the Indian Penal Code serves as the basis for the majority of the criminal laws pertaining to cybersecurity. While that will still be the case, there must also be laws defined for specific situations.
The Supreme Court attorney N S Nappinai's Cybersaathi Foundation and the Management Development Institute in Gurugram have been entrusted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to work on the Bill's finer points.
US regulators unveil antitrust roadmap to facilitate a fair and equitable ecosystem regarding mergers and acquisitions
On Wednesday, U.S. antitrust officials released recommendations on the types of mergers and acquisitions they disapprove, particularly in the technology industry.
Since 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Justice Department have filed an unprecedented number of legal challenges against mergers.
In the next months, a number of challenges, including the Justice Department's opposition to JetBlue Airways Corp.'s acquisition of Spirit Airlines Inc., are due to be heard by judges.
Without mentioning them by name, the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission's 51-page guidelines detailed mergers like Amazon.com's 2018 acquisition of video doorbell ‘Ring’ and advised the antitrust agencies to closely examine them.
The issue identified by the watchdogs is that because Ring's rivals are sold on Amazon.com, Amazon would have motive to choose Ring over rivals.
The rules also stated that a deal shouldn't prevent a new player from entering a crowded market or result in a corporation purchasing a business that supplies raw materials to the acquirer's rivals.
The regulations supersede those that were last imposed in 2010 on corporations buying rivals and in 2020 on companies merging with suppliers. Before they are finalised, the new guidelines will be up for comment for 60 days.