NRAI, ONDC Term Reports Of Rift ‘Misleading’

The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) and the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) today issued a joint statement, reaffirming their strategic partnership and calling recent reports of a rift “inaccurate and misleading.”

The clarification follows media reports suggesting that the NRAI had paused onboarding of partner restaurants on ONDC due to internal disagreements. 

In the statement, the two organisations said that their collaboration remains “active, deliberate and forward-looking”, with a shared focus on building a scalable, inclusive model for restaurant digitisation. 

“We have not paused anything… our engagement with ONDC is going and purposeful,” said Sagar Daryani, president of the NRAI. He emphasised that the association continues to work through ONDC’s Food Council – comprising restaurateurs, network participants and ONDC representatives – to shape a viable roadmap for the sector. 

“This is not a stepback – it’s a step forward,” Daryani added, noting that the NRAI’s objective is long-term value creation for its members in an open, interoperable digital environment. 

It is pertinent to note that the NRAI partnered with ONDC in 2023 to onboard its partner restaurants on the state-backed network to reduce its reliance on food delivery platforms such as Swiggy and Zomato. The NRAI believes that the shift towards ONDC would enable restaurateurs to have a greater control over data, pricing and customer relationships – areas where restaurants have often voiced concerns about the aggregator-led models. 

ONDC senior vice president Marichi Mathur reiterated that the partnership aims to democratise digital commerce. “We are working to build an inclusive, transparent network that empowers lakhs of restaurants and food brands to participate on their own terms,” she said. 

The joint statement also urged stakeholders to disregard speculative reports and rely on official communication. According to both parties, the engagement is currently focused on refining the commercial and operational viability of ONDC’s food vertical through collaborative consultation. 

Incorporated in 2021 under the aegis of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), ONDC is a government-backed initiative to democratise digital commerce. Unlike traditional platforms, ONDC functions as a protocol that allows participants to transact on a common network without intermediary control. 

The development comes at a time when ONDC is expanding across verticals, including groceries, mobility and financial services. Last month, Inc42 reported that transactions on the platform, spanning fashion, food deliveries, electronics and groceries, declined to 4.6 Mn in February 2025, marking a 10-month low. In contrast, the network clocked a record 6.5 Mn transactions in October 2024.

As per the latest data, ONDC has crossed the 200 Mn transactions milestone in the two-year period since commencing operations in January 2023. 

Notably, this also comes at a time when ONDC has been hit by a series of top-level exits. Last month, its managing director and CEO T Koshy stepped down from his role after a three-year stint. In March, Shireesh Joshi resigned as the chief business officer of ONDC after a three-and-half year tenure.