Ease of doing business for MSMEs: Data and analytics company Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) India on Tuesday announced support to MSMEs including sellers part of the government’s open e-commerce project Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to increase their visibility, expand access to global markets without going through multiple layers, find potential customers, and identify growth opportunities.
D&B said its D-U-N-S (Data Universal Numbering System) number will be freely available to ONDC’s network participants along with sellers. “The D-U-N-S number will help MSMEs on the ONDC platform to build their credibility and to access global markets,” the company said in a statement. According to D&B, D-U-N-S is a unique nine-digit number to identify a business worldwide and track its credit activity. The number is also used to build a credit file of a company that may be used as a reference by lenders and potential business partners to help predict the reliability and/or financial stability of the company.
Also read: ONDC gives market access for small businesses to turn large: CEO T Koshy
“The D-U-N-S number is recognized, recommended, and required by over 240 governments, trade, and industry organizations around the globe. There are 2.5 lakh global and domestic customers who leverage the Dun & Bradstreet Data Cloud for decision making,” said Avinash Gupta, Managing Director & CEO – India, Dun & Bradstreet. The D-U-N-S number will help MSMEs on the ONDC platform to build credibility and they will find it easier to get noticed globally, which will level the competitive playing field for them, he added.
D&B also announced offering value-added services including D-U-N-S Registered Solutions and D&B ESG Intelligence at specially discounted prices to network participants and sellers on the ONDC platform. D-U-N-S Registered Solutions provide an electronic mark displayed on a business’s website. The mark displays information about the company for potential customers, suppliers, business partners and other visitors to the website.
The D&B ESG Intelligence is a third-party sustainability analytics solution that allows companies to assess and track their business partners’ ESG performance and activities.
T Koshy, Chief Executive Officer, ONDC said, “In order to truly democratize the existing e-commerce ecosystem of the country, empowering the MSMEs holds the ultimate key. Our association with Dun & Bradstreet will enable ONDC associated participants and sellers to build trust with stakeholders, access financing, and grow their businesses more efficiently.”
The ONDC platform hosts multiple participants such as buyers, sellers, logistics companies, etc. Currently, multiple companies are live on the network, for instance, Digiit, GoFrugal, Ushop, Growth Falcons etc., as sellers while Paytm, PhonePe, Craftsvilla etc., are registered as buyers. When a customer looks for a product on any of the buyers’ apps, the ONDC platform connects the customer to available sellers that show up merchants from where the customer can buy the product.
Last month, e-commerce company Amazon