The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is a private non-profit Section 8 company established by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) of Government of India to develop open e-commerce. ONDC is a set of specifications based on open-sourced methodology. It utilizes open specifications and network protocols that ensure it is independent of any one platform.
ONDC is a non-profit company whose network will enable the display of products and services from all participating e-commerce platforms in search results across all apps on the network.
ONDC has been around since September 2022 but is now gaining popularity and is reportedly delivering more than 10,000 daily orders. Over the last couple of days, a lot of people have posted screenshots in which they are comparing the food delivery prices offered by ONDC, Swiggy and Zomato. And ONDC costs relatively cheaper.
However, since the network is new, it is not live in all cities and not all restaurants are available on it.
Where is ONDC available?
ONDC was first made available in Bengaluru, back in September 2022.
However, does this mean that only Bengaluru residents will be able to order food via the network? Absolutely not. You can still access the ONDC network in your city via the Paytm app. However, the restaurants in your area must be live for you to order food.