ONDC's One-Year Milestone: Expands To 236 Cities With 36,000 Sellers, Over 45 Network Participants And 8+ Categories

The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) has scaled to 36,000 sellers, over 45 network participants and more than eight categories since the initial launch of the platform last year.

ONDC is backed by the government and has been set up to democratise the country's digital commerce space.

ONDC is a non-profit entity created by the government in December 2021 to address the domination of the online commerce business by a few players, enabling small players from neighbourhood kirana (grocery) shops to rural cooperatives to micro and small industries to find new — hopefully all-India — markets for their products and services.

ONDC started its Alpha test phase with a closed user group of buyers first in Bengaluru in April 2022 expanding to more than 80 cities by September 2022.

A number of technology players have joined the ONDC since its launch and are offering their expertise especially to potential MSME sellers.

 During his virtual address at the “ONDC Elevate” program in Bengaluru, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said that ONDC was created to democratise the existing e-commerce ecosystem of the country.

The minister said that a significant number of sellers on the network is itself a testimony to ONDC's impact as digital commerce is being re-imagined.

“ONDC Elevate” commemorated ONDC's one-year completion, fostering a collaborative environment by bringing together participants and ecosystem players of the network, the Commerce Ministry said.

It provided a platform for open discussions on accomplishments to date and facilitated brainstorming sessions to shape the future trajectory of ONDC, the ministry added.

ONDC MD and CEO T Koshy said that from five cities to 236 cities, the network has continuously evolved with diverse participation of merchants in its first year.