Exclusive: Ola Pilots 10-Minute Food Delivery On ONDC

SUMMARY

Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Consumer, which provides hyperlocal delivery services on ONDC, has begun piloting quick food deliveries in some parts of Bengaluru

The company plans to launch the 10-minute food delivery service nationwide in the coming weeks

The development comes at a time when the competition in the 10-minute food delivery space is rising rapidly and Ola Consumer is eyeing an IPO

Amid the rising competition in the 10-minute food delivery segment, Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Consumer, which provides hyperlocal delivery services on ONDC, has begun piloting quick food deliveries in some parts of Bengaluru.

Under the food delivery section on Ola Cabs app, Ola is claiming to deliver the food items from various restaurants within 10 minutes.

“Ola has started trying out its quick food delivery in the Bengaluru region via ONDC. Depending on the response, we will launch it across the country,” a company source told Inc42.

The full-scale launch of the 10-minute food deliveries is expected in the coming weeks, sources said.

An Ola spokesperson declined to comment on Inc42’s queries on the development.

This comes a day after ONDC’s managing director and chief executive officer Thampy Koshy said that Ola is amongst the top two platforms on ONDC in the food and beverages (F&B) segment.

“Ola has informed ONDC that they will go pan-India soon in the F&B category. It also recently started doing grocery and will be adding other segments soon,” Koshy added.

Ola currently offers F&B services via ONDC but only in limited cities. Apart from food delivery, it also offers last-mile logistics services for grocery shopping and pharmaceuticals via ONDC.

Earlier this year, Ola Cabs was rebranded as Ola Consumer. At the time, Aggarwal said that the company would double down on its partnership with ONDC and will offer a slew of services to make ecommerce more accessible and affordable.

Last month, Ola Consumer turned into a public limited company as it eyes its initial public offering in the coming months.

The latest development comes at a time when Ola’s rivals, Uber and Rapido, have also joined the ONDC bandwagon.

Earlier today, hyperlocal delivery startup magicpin announced the launch of magicNOW to offer food delivery in 15 minutes amid a rising competition in the instant delivery offerings.

Zomato, one of the giants in the segment, recently launched a new app Bistro under its quick commerce brand Blinkit to deliver food in 10 minutes. While Zepto is expanding Zepto Cafe nationwide for 10-minute food delivery, Swiggy launched Swiggy Bolt and Cafe.

[With inputs from Bismah Malik]