New Delhi, June 1 (Reuters) – India’s efforts to solve the dominance of Amazon Inc. (Amzn.O) and Walmart Inc. (WMT.N) Key players need to advance, sources who are familiar with the problem said.

Some of the largest banks in India are in discussions about the “buyer platform” settings to let their customers order goods and services through an open network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), which was launched by the Indian government in April, the source told Reuters to Reuters.

Network success, which will promise the same access to all online sellers and buyers regardless of its size, is a priority for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who faces pressure from small businesses to act against enormous influences from Flipkart Amazon and Walmart in India in India’s Trade electronic.

Policy makers in other countries are also looking for ways to control the dominance of large technology companies on online purchases.

If you look at the seller side, anyone who can make their digital catalog is seen using this common language will have access to a large collection of buyers distributed throughout the application,” said the Head of the Ondc T. Koshy Executive Head of the Network. “That is no longer controlled by a large company.”

Koshy said he had held talks with banks, venture investors and telecommunications companies, but refused to name them or comment on how far the discussion had developed.

Indian e-commerce is worth more than $ 55 billion in the value of dirty merchandise in 2021 and will grow to $ 350 billion at the end of this decade, according to the government’s estimate. Amazon and Flipkart control more than 60% of the market, which now contributes around 8% of consumer purchases in countries with 1.35 billion people.

ONDC aims to cover at least 100 cities and cities in August, with the target of registering 900 million buyers and 1.2 million sellers in five years.

Head of the Bank of Baroda Digital Officer (Bob.NS), Akhil Handa, said the bank was in talks about the project but it was still too early to discuss special use cases.

This of course has the potential to be the next big thing,” he said.

State Bank of India (SBI.NS), Axis Bank (Axbk.NS), Punjab National Bank (Pnbk.NS), ICICI (ICBK.NS), HDFC (HDBK.NS), Mahindra Box (Ktkm.NS) and IDFC First (IDFB.NS) are several other lenders in discussions with ONDC to arrange buyers’ platforms, three sources who are familiar with the problem to Reuters. They spoke on anonymous conditions because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Kotak said that he had invested in ONDC with the belief that the project would “re -define digital trade in the country”. That does not comment on the buyer platform.

Other banks did not respond to comments requests.

The platform will allow banks to encourage the use of cards, loans and other services, the source said.

Banks and other financial institutions have committed to the initial investment of 2.55 billion rupees ($ 32.8 million) in the ONDC project. Read more

However, while this project moves forward, there is doubt whether it will reduce the existence of Amazon and Flipkart.

This network is not about every small player who is colluding to make large companies like Amazon irrelevant,” said Pranav Pai, management partner in 3one4 Capital who invests in start-up.

Factors such as loyalty and trust for Amazon fulfillment services will still play a role in the choice of online consumers.”

Amazon and Flipkart did not respond to requests for comments.

Venture Capital Company Accel and Sequoia are also in talks about the potential to invest in the start-up that will join Ondc, said one source. Bharti Airtel (BRTI.NS) and Vodafone IDEA (VODA.NS) telecommunications company is in a discussion about how they can take advantage of the network, two sources say.

The company did not immediately respond to comment requests.