The Kejriwal Government is set to launch Delhi’s markets on a cutting-edge digital platform, the Dilli Bazaar e-portal. The platform will go live soon, featuring 10,000 vendors initially. Currently, the Kejriwal Government is in the final stages of launching the platform, which will soon be available to Delhi sellers. Within six months of its launch, the Delhi Government aims to bring over 1 lakh shops in Delhi to the Dilli Bazaar portal, offering them a 24×7 digital storefront.
Dilli Bazaar will be the first portal in India to bring all of Delhi’s markets onto a single platform and present them to the world. Every trader and retailer in Delhi will have the opportunity to display and sell their products worldwide through Dilli Bazaar.
Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal chaired a high-level review meeting at the Delhi Secretariat to assess the progress of the Dilli Bazaar Project, on Wednesday. Industries Minister Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj and other senior officials were also present.
The Dilli Bazaar Project envisions a large-scale transformation of Delhi’s markets through digitalization. The government plans to develop a unique virtual experience that allows users to explore Delhi’s iconic as well as local markets and browse through the products on offer.
During the meeting, Industries Minister Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj briefed the Chief Minister on the portal’s design and development details, highlighting features such as product cataloguing, market location, geo-tagging, map layouts, e-payment, and digital walkthroughs. The Dilli Bazaar portal will have a dedicated team responsible for complete branding solutions, including visiting the markets.
The Delhi Government aims to revolutionise the Indian markets by making them easily accessible to consumers with just a click. Emphasising the “Go Local” motto, customers on this platform will be able to search for products, markets, sellers, and geographical areas to discover the unique markets of Delhi, each with its distinctive branding.
The portal will give a significant boost to the renowned local shops in various markets of Delhi, offering search options by Market, Shop name, and Product Category. For example, if a customer wants to buy terracotta pots from a shop in Lajpat Nagar, they can log on to the Dilli Bazaar portal and search for the shops in that area. They will then receive a list of all the shops selling pots in the local market.
The primary goal of the portal is to bring all of Delhi’s small and large shopkeepers into the online setup at zero cost. Regardless of whether they have GST numbers or not, all shopkeepers in Delhi will be allowed to register on the portal. Each shopkeeper will have a personalised digital storefront on the portal, listing all their products. Customers can search through the portal using shopkeeper names, market names, and product names. The portal will also serve as a repository of verified Delhi sellers with comprehensive product catalogues. This provision will provide digital presence to Delhi shopkeepers on the Dilli Bazaar Portal, opening up a wide range of opportunities for them.
Dilli Bazaar plans to go beyond being just an e-commerce platform by introducing virtual market tours. Customers and visitors will be able to view market streets and shops, making their purchasing and itinerary planning more convenient. For example, a person sitting in a different state or country who wants to visit Chandni Chowk can open a virtual navigation of the area, exploring shops and streets to see what products are available and make purchases, providing them with a unique experience.
Dilli Bazaar portal shall also be ONDC enabled. will serve as a discovery platform for local markets.
ONDC will enable a similar kind of flexibility in e-commerce like UPI has in e-payments. Under UPI, one can send money across banks using any platform they want. Under ONDC, you will be able to buy a product from the shop you want but choose the platform of your choice. For example, at present, if you log on to Amazon or Flipkart you will only be able to buy from their sellers and their sellers will only be able to sell using their platform. On Dilli Bazaar, the sellers will be able to sell across platforms and give an explicit choice to the buyer to choose the platform.
It is worth noting that the Dilli Bazaar portal will be a cutting-edge e-marketplace built by the Kejriwal Government to assist Delhi-based businesses in growing and diversifying. The Dilli Bazaar portal will be built with new-age technology to improve the digital presence of Delhi’s businesses where traders, vendors, wholesalers, and service providers will thrive. The scheme’s first phase will concentrate on involving product sellers on the platform. This platform will be connected to service providers in the second phase.
Each vendor in Delhi will have their own store on the Dilli Bazaar portal, which is being developed by the Kejriwal Government. Where they will be able to showcase their shops and products through a comprehensive product catalogue. This will be an additional virtual store that will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and will help sellers reach new customers in larger markets. This will make it easier for sellers to reach out to both domestic and international customers. The portal is intended to be the first and largest e-commerce marketplace under the Government of India’s Digital Commerce Open Network (ONDC) initiative.
The Dilli Bazaar portal will also be extremely beneficial to startups. If a startup is starting a new project, it can sell its products on this portal. For the first time in the world, such a portal is being created in which all of Delhi’s economic activities and services will be available to the entire world. This will significantly boost Delhi’s GDP. Delhi’s economic activities and employment will grow at a rapid pace. Tax revenue will rise rapidly, and Delhi will advance rapidly.
