The number of retail traders on ONDC has grown from 800 in January 2023 to over 35,000 now.
ONDC will help make the ecosystem more competitive by allowing users to search across platforms
ONDC, which is seen as a rival to food ordering platforms such as Zomato and Swiggy, could transform the e-commerce space given its ability to connect a large number of buyers and sellers on the platform. While users have recently shown a difference of around 60 per cent in price on burgers ordered from ONDC and Zomato/Swiggy, this difference will reduce now as the incentives have been capped.
Rohit Kumar, founding partner, public policy firm TQH Consulting, said, “ONDC will help make the ecosystem more competitive by allowing users to conduct searches on the platform. So, in that sense, it will put pressure on the established platforms to rationalize the prices. Also, ONDC is currently offering discounts to accelerate. In the long term, the difference in prices is likely to diminish and may be offset by the difference in quality of service.”
In April 2022, ONDC began its alpha testing with real-world transactions for the first time and its “beta testing” with the grocery and food delivery domain in Bangalore in late September last year.
The network has grown steadily since then, especially with quantum leaps in the last few months. For example, the number of retail traders has increased from more than 800 in January 2023 to more than 35,000 now, while the number of orders increased from 50 per day in January to more than 25,000 orders per day in the last week.
ONDC has expanded its geographic footprint, with the number of cities with merchant presence increasing from 85 in January to 230 now. ONDC also added mobility in Kochi in January and Bengaluru in April, which has seen a jump of over 35,000 rides a day from these two cities.
How to place an order through ONDC?
Step 1: To place an order through ONDC, one needs to visit the ONDC website – https://ondc.org/,
Step 2: After visiting the website, click on the ‘Shop on ONDC’ tab on the homepage.
Step 3: Choose a platform through which you want to order and click on ‘Shop Now’. The currently available platforms are Paytm, MyStore, Craftsvilla, Two Life Bani, Meesho, Pincode and Maginpin.
Step 4: Now, select the item you want and place the order as you do it on other platforms.
Step 5: Make Payment. it’s done!
