Conceptualising the Role of State in Digital Ecosystems in India: A Case Study on ONDC

Abstract

This study presents a framework to investigate the role of the state in the emerging digital ecosystems in India. It tests the framework on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), the hub of a state-sponsored emerging digital ecosystem. Building on the concepts of ecosystems and institutional voids, the study develops a theoretical framework based on a two-part argument. The first part of the argument, which is synthesised from the literature, states that ecosystems fill institutional voids. The second part of the argument states that in emerging economies the state can orchestrate digital ecosystems to fill institutional voids. To test the theoretical framework, the study takes ONDC, a state-backed open protocol for digital commerce implemented in India, as the empirical context. A novel method called natural-language-processing-augmented discourse analysis is proposed and used to examine the policy discourse around ONDC, including official blogs and press releases. The discourse analysis revealed that there is optimism about ONDC’s ability to overcome the limitations of private digital commerce platforms. These results when seen in conjunction with the fact that the state finances ONDC lend support to the proposition that the Indian state intends to orchestrate digital ecosystems that have the potential to strengthen markets. The implications of these findings to theory, method and practice are discussed.