ONDC, Now In Delhi: Beta Testing To Start On November 28

The government’s ambitious Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is reported to start beta testing in the nation’s capital on November 28.

Moneycontrol reports that there would be more clarity on the matter after November 15, while early-stage testing might start as soon as November 20. However, the beta testing is set to start on November 28.

The key focus of ONDC will be food delivery and the beta testing phase will target central and south Delhi, where most of the top government offices and ministries reside.

Many familiar faces are set to return for the Delhi launch of ONDC, with some new startups also making their ONDC debuts. Paytm, IDFC First Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, SpiceMoney, CraftsVilla and Mystore are set to be the buyer apps.

The seller apps will include SellerApp, eSamudaay, Digiit, Ushop, GrowthFalcons Innobits, Uengage, Bizom, Nstore and GoFrugal. Shiprocket, Loadshare and Dunzo will provide logistics support to ONDC’s Delhi beta testing, as was the case in Bengaluru.

The development comes two months after ONDC made its debut in Bengaluru, with limited success. The first day saw people of Bengaluru order 161 times, with most of the orders focused on grocery and food delivery.

Of the total orders placed, 55% were grocery orders while the rest were F&B orders, per figures from the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

Currently, ONDC is receiving 50-60 orders per day in Bengaluru.

After the beta launch in Delhi, the network would be looking to make a bigger splash in India’s digital commerce market. Per sources cited by the aforementioned report, ONDC is working to attempt mainstream launch latest by February 2023.

The government’s ambitious ecommerce project seeks to change the normal ecommerce structure to a modular one, where any user on any platform can buy from any seller. ONDC’s chief business officer Shireesh Joshi, speaking at Inc42’s The D2C Summit 3.0, also said that the network is a new way of doing ecommerce.

“It is a very, very new way of doing things. For more than a decade, we were used to doing ecommerce a certain way. We have to unlearn a lot of behaviour and practices that we have taken for granted and have become second nature to ecommerce. These behaviours will actually change or disappear completely,” he said.

ONDC aims to raise India’s ecommerce proliferation level, signing up 900 Mn buyers and 1.2 Mn sellers on the platform and achieving a gross merchandise value (GMV) of $48 Bn, all in the next two years.