ONDC To Now Foray Into Skill-Based Services

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is looking to foray into skill-based services including appliance repair and teaching assistance, extending its current scope of offerings across food, grocery delivery, and mobility services.

The development comes after Inc42 exclusively reported last week that ONDC is also launching financial services including personal and SMB loans, insurance, and mutual funds, on its network.

Chief Business Officer of ONDC, Shireesh Joshi told Moneycontrol that the platform is eyeing participants – the likes of Urban Company – to join the network to offer such skill-based services.

“There are a variety of sectors where people have reached out to us for categories currently not enabled on the network. One of them is skill-based services. We’ve had many requests, both from organisations as well as from many state governments. It will require certain specifications, in terms of building the protocol to enable it and then getting network participants to come on board,” Joshi was quoted as saying.

“What we’re doing is that we are developing the capability of the network to be able to enable these services and make sure that we are ready on all fronts,” Joshi reportedly added.

Discussions are in the preliminary stages about potentially introducing skill-based services on the network, and it might take some time before such features materialize for users.

Joshi mentioned to the publication that ONDC has fielded requests to incorporate industrial items, such as construction materials and metal alloys, and is currently evaluating these proposals.

Launched in 2022, ONDC, backed by the government, is on a mission to make ecommerce universally accessible. It is developing open standards for all facets of digital commerce, enabling buyers and sellers to transact using any compatible app or service.

Having initiated with food and grocery delivery, ONDC is broadening its services. Last week, a representative from ONDC informed Inc42 that over 65 organisations have shown interest in partnering with the network for its forthcoming financial service offerings.

Last month the platform also launched the ‘ONDC Network Gift Card’ for corporate gifting and employee engagement.

In a bid to improve engagement, ONDC has also introduced an incentive programme, offering bonuses of up to INR 35 lakh per week to buyer-side platforms if they attain specified order volume targets.

Meanwhile, it’s also bolstering the mobility offerings. After onboarding Bengaluru-based auto booking app Namma Yatri on the network in March this year, ONDC is launching its cab-hailing pilot programme in Kolkata in partnership with the West Bengal government’s Yatri Sathi app.

Recently, ONDC has also signed an MoU with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) in order to onboard small and medium-sized businesses on the network.

As per its website, ONDC currently has 1.79 Lakh sellers or service providers on its network.