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In a bid to enhance operations and address any issues or delays, the government has requested that ecommerce giants Amazon and Flipkart establish Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) storefronts on their home pages. According to ONDC’s managing director T Koshy, the network is actively engaged in discussions with Amazon and Flipkart, and promising results are expected soon.
As per reports, ONDC has hit 150,000 daily retail orders. Moneycontrol reported earlier that the volume of monthly retail purchases on the ONDC grew six times in six months to hit 3.6 million in March, compared to over 600,000 in September last year.
Furthermore, ONDC is currently in talks with the National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI), which represents over 500,000 restaurants. The objective of these discussions is to establish seamless last-mile connectivity for food delivery, improve order tracking, enhance discoverability, and streamline operations within the food services sector.
To foster growth and ensure broader participation from the sector, ONDC has collaborated with NRAI to establish a Champion Council. Comprising distinguished representatives from various segments, including casual and fine-dine chains, quick-service restaurants, cloud kitchens, cafes, and regional players, this council aims to drive progress in the industry.
Launched in 2021 by the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), ONDC is an open-source platform that aims to democratize ecommerce in India and enable small businesses to establish an online presence. Supported by the DPIIT as a private non-profit platform, ONDC has integrated services from industry leaders such as Delhivery, Paytm, Phonepe, Uber, IDFC Bank, Kotak, Shiprocket, Dunzo, and Tata Neu.
As ONDC continues to expand its services across the country, it is also exploring the possibility of onboarding news media platforms onto its state-backed network. In fact, the digital arm of Hindi media giant Dainik Jagran is in the advanced stages of integration with ONDC.
According to a RedSeer report, ONDC has the potential to significantly boost growth in the ecommerce space across various sectors and generate a gross merchandise value (GMV) of $250-300 billion by 2030. With its commitment to democratizing ecommerce and empowering small businesses, ONDC is poised to shape the future of digital commerce in India.
With ONDC, the government hopes to increase e-commerce penetration in the country to 25 percent in the next couple of years, reaching a gross merchandise value of $48 billion.
Over the past year-and-a-half, multiple new-age companies such as Paytm, Ola, PhonePe, Meesho, Magicpin and Shiprocket have taken to ONDC, aimed at breaking the stranglehold of a few players such as Amazon, Flipkart, Zomato and Swiggy on online retail in the country.
ONDC is operational in 588 “countable cities”, which are the cities or districts with more than 100 orders a month in the last 3 months. This is approximately 70 percent of cities in India. The platform has fulfilled transactions in over 800 cities in India.