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NABARD-ONDC Grand Challenge 

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is working to activate e-commerce in the agriculture domain in partnership with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). As one of the first initiatives to drive Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)  enablement in the domain, ONDC and NABARD have come together to host the NABARD-ONDC Grand Challenge which aims to establish market linkages for the enabled players with market-ready Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs) in the country. It also aims to promote the development of innovative solutions that are likely to aid the adoption of e-commerce in the agriculture domain.

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) 

ONDC aims to promote interoperability and to create an open, inclusive, and competitive digital commerce marketplace

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development is a pioneer organization that aims at building an empowered and financially inclusive rural India through specific goal-oriented initiatives that are financial, developmental, and supervisory.

Categories of challenges

The NABARD-ONDC Grand Challenge  Programme constitutes two categories of challenges:

Agri Grant Challenge

 Through the Grant challenge, ONDC and NABARD aim to enable existing e-commerce players in the agriculture domain with ONDC protocols and establish market linkages for the enabled players with market-ready Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs) in the country

Agri Innovation Hackathon

Through the innovation Hackathon, ONDC and NABARD aim to promote the development of innovative solutions that are likely to aid the adoption of e-commerce in the agriculture domain

Eligible Startups

The following type of startups can apply for the NABARD-ONDC Grand Challenge:

• Accelerator 
• Incubator
• Individual
• Ideation Stage Startup
• Validation Stage Startup
• Early Traction Startup
• Scaling Stage Startup
• Corporate

Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility criteria to apply for the NABARD-ONDC Grand Challenge is as follows:

Agri Grant Challenge

Participation is open for organizations, including startups (ideation, validation, early traction, scaling stage startups), preferably in the Agri e-commerce domain.

Agri Innovation Hackathon

Participation is open for individuals and organizations, including startups (ideation, validation, early traction, scaling stage startups)

ONDC reserves the right to update the eligibility criteria as the program progresses to further stages.

Themes for Nabard-ONDC Grand Challenge 

• Agri-tech
• Innovation
• Ecommerce
• Logistics
• Financing solutions
• Imaging solutions

Relevant Industry

• Agriculture
• AI
• Finance Technology
• Food & Beverages
• Internet Of Things
• IT Services
• Transportation & Storage

Problem Statement

The startups will be given two problem statements: One, to integrate existing agri-tech e-commerce players on the ONDC network, and the second, to build innovative solutions that may accelerate the adoption of the network-enabled.

Fiscal Incentives

Depending upon the nature of solutions submitted, participants may be selected for grants/rewards.

Stage 1:

For winners of each problem statement, prizes upto INR 5 lakhs each, and the runners-up will get 3 lakhs each. Total prizes upto INR 64 lakhs

Stage 2:

For the first three participants completing ONDC implementation prizes upto INR 8 lakhs each Total prizes upto INR 24 lakhs

Stage 3:

For the first three participants completing onboarding of at least 5 FPOs onto their ONDC enabled application, prizes upto INR 10 lakhs each Total prizes upto INR 30 lakhs

TimeLine of Lakshya Accelerator Program

Application Opens	8th June 2022
Deadline to Apply	28th June 2022
Application Result Date	12th July 2022

Application Procedure

The NABARD-ONDC Grand Challenge will be open upto 28th June 2022. The applicant is required to access the official webpage of Startup India.

• From the home page click on the Programs option and then select View all active programs.
• By clicking on the Challenges from the new page, the list of active Challenges will be displayed. Click on the NABARD-ONDC Grand Challenge, the link will redirect to a new page.
• Click on the apply now an option; the Startup India login page will be displayed. The existing users of Startup India can log in to the portal to apply for the program.
• New users need to register on the portal to get the user credential. By clicking on the register now option, the applicant can provide all mandatory details for registration.
• After login into the portal, the startup can apply for the challenge.

Procedure Post Submission

Grant Challenge participants will constitute existing e-commerce players, preferably from the agriculture domain. ONDC has designed a participant’s journey across 3 stages, each of which will ensure a financial grant/reward for the winning participants. The winners shall be encouraged to leverage the grant in capacity building and operationalization support for the identified FPOs. For a participant, the three stages are as follows:

• Stage 1: Onboarding ONDC as a network participant through the ONDC-NABARD Agri hackathon
• Stage 2: Completing the build for the ONDC-enabled seller application
• Stage 3: Operationalizing ONDC-enabled seller application with FPOs identified by NABARD