Govt holds stakeholder consultations to explore development of freight smart cities: Piyush Goyal

Union Minister Piyush Goyal (File image)

The government is presently holding stakeholder consultations with states, central ministries, and technical institutions to explore the development of freight smart cities in the country, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

State governments have been requested to identify cities for development as freight smart cities, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

He said that one of the inputs during stakeholder consultations has been to start with a list of 10 such cities, which has not yet been finalised.

"The government is presently holding stakeholder consultations with state governments, central ministries, technical institutions, etc. to explore the development of freight smart cities in the country," Goyal said.

Replying to a question on Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash said it is an initiative aiming at promoting open networks for all aspects of the exchange of goods and services over digital or electronic networks.

"ONDC is expected to make e-commerce more inclusive and accessible for consumers. Consumers can potentially discover any seller, product or service by using any compatible application or platform, thus increasing freedom of choice for consumers," Parkash said.

ONDC will enable the consumers to match demand with the nearest available supply, he added.

"This would also give consumers the liberty to choose their preferred local businesses. Thus, ONDC would standardise operations, promote inclusion of local suppliers, drive efficiencies in logistics and lead to enhancement of value for consumers," the minister said.