The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), in collaboration with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), organized a CPG roundtable—’Bharat Commerce Chintan Shivir’ on June 12, 2026. This roundtable brought together leaders from major consumer goods companies, distributor networks, technology providers, and logistics partners to discuss the digital transformation of India’s general trade ecosystem.
India’s general trade ecosystem comprises over 1.4 crore kirana stores, accounting for approximately 75–80 percent of total FMCG sales. However, a significant portion of this channel still operates through fragmented ordering systems, limited inventory visibility, and manual sales processes, leading to operational inefficiencies for retailers, distributors, and brands.
The discussion focused on ONDC’s DigiDukaan initiative, which aims to digitize kirana stores for B2B procurement. Designed to enhance operational efficiency across the entire value chain, DigiDukaan helps kirana stores increase their margins through direct procurement. It provides them with better visibility into schemes, improved fill rates, and enhanced working capital management. For distributors, this initiative helps reach a wider market without additional field expenses by digitizing orders and collections, while also improving retailer coverage. For brands, it provides access to retailer demand signals and direct connectivity to retail outlets, facilitating the more effective implementation and tracking of schemes.
DigiDukaan has already achieved significant initial success in Hyderabad, where it has onboarded over 10,000 retailers and more than 35 brands through Qwipo. Following Hyderabad, DigiDukaan is set to launch in Jaipur on June 19, 2026, via Salescode, with plans to expand to Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Delhi-NCR in the coming months.
Industry leaders discussed key challenges facing the general trade ecosystem, including fragmented retailer engagement, rising sales-force costs, inventory inefficiencies, limited visibility into secondary sales, and growing competition from digital-first retail models. Participants also deliberated on how open digital infrastructure could enhance retailer reach, distributor productivity, demand planning, and the effectiveness of trade schemes within the FMCG value chain.
This roundtable provided a platform for stakeholders to share suggestions on distributor digitization, catalog standardization, retailer onboarding, and technology integration. The participating companies were also invited to collaborate as founding partners in the next phase of DigiDukaan’s expansion.
This roundtable meeting was chaired by Mr. Atish Kumar Singh, Additional Secretary, DPIIT. Companies such as HUL, ITC, Coca-Cola, TCPL, CavinKare, Marico, Bikaner, L’Oreal, Moon Beverages, Anmol Industries, Nestle, and Kirana King participated in the meeting. The participating companies showed interest in joining and supporting the DigiDukaan initiative. (PIB)
