ONDC jumps on quick commerce bandwagon with new pilot project

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), the government’s initiative to give customers a wider choice in the e-commerce space, is gearing up to roll out a new initiative to deliver groceries and other items within 30 minutes to two hours as quick commerce grows in popularity in the country.

The first phase of the project will be facilitated by business-to-business e-commerce startup ElasticRun, Ola and PhonePe’s buyer app Pincode, which will use their network of dark stores and delivery fleets to facilitate quick deliveries. In the past year, quick commerce has emerged as the new consumer favourite, with a greater number of people in the top cities demanding order deliveries within minutes.

Investors have fueled large capital infusions in the top players in this space such as Aadit Palicha-led Zepto, IPO-bound Swiggy’s Instamart division, and Zomato-owned Blinkit. While ONDC’s service may not be as quick as Zepto and Blinkit in deliveries, managing director T Koshy told Mint the move is part of a larger plan to integrate the services of various companies in one place to reach consumers in a timeframe that’s widely preferred today.

ONDC is not looking to compete with private players but to encourage them to join the network, Koshy said when asked about its ability to catch up with well-funded and larger-scale players. “When we started with food delivery in the beginning, the aim was to familiarise users with the network and encourage them to use the services.

The idea now is to expand use-cases to offer users what they want, which is a large assortment of products as well as shortened delivery timelines," Koshy said. ONDC started in November 2022 and still has a long way to go in