PDS Shops to Sell Soap-Shampoo Online: E-commerce companies like Amazon and Flipkart may face tough competition in the coming days. The government has prepared a new plan for this. The government is testing whether government ration shops i.e. PDS shops can sell consumer durable products online.
Online sales will be done on ONDC
According to a report in Times of India, the central government is testing the plan to sell consumer durable products online through PDS shops on ONDC. ONDC is an e-commerce platform prepared by the government. It has been called the UPI of e-commerce. ONDC aims to end the dominance of companies like Flipkart and Amazon in the matter of e-commerce.
Testing started in Himachal Pradesh
PDS shops i.e. fair price shops currently sell ration (grains and other commodities) under the Public Distribution System (PDS). The Food and Public Distribution Department has now started testing the sale of consumer durables through PDS shops. This testing has been started from Una and Hamirpur districts of Himachal Pradesh.
This is a challenge for Amazon-Flipkart
If this test of the Central Government is successful, then in the coming days people can buy many types of goods online from PDS shops. The goods available may include consumer durable products like toothbrushes, soaps and shampoos. If this happens, then the proposed alliance of ONDC and PDS Shop can prove to be a big challenge for e-commerce companies like Amazon-Flipkart.
This is how it will start across the country
According to the report, the testing of this scheme has started from 11 fair price shops. It was started by Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra. After getting successful results of the test, the scheme will first be implemented in entire Himachal Pradesh and later it will be started in the entire country. With the implementation of this scheme, the scope of ONDC is also expected to increase.
