Soon, Flipkart Users Can Get Food Deliveries From ONDC Restaurant Partners

Walmart-owned ecommerce company Flipkart is reportedly planning to enter the food and beverages (F&B) category on the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) soon.

This means that users may soon be able to order from a wide range of restaurants and fast food outlets, such as Domino’s and McDonald’s, through the Flipkart app.

For this, Flipkart is in active discussions with ONDC for the integration, ET reported, citing sources.

The report said that F&B is just the starting point for Flipkart on ONDC, with logistics to follow, promising good prices and immediate responses. Despite advanced stages of integration with ONDC last February, Flipkart’s logistics subsidiary Ekart has not been very active. 

The company plans to operate on the buyer-side of ONDC, meaning shoppers can order food while searching for fashion and apparel on Flipkart. This new service would make Flipkart’s F&B-ordering business more cost-effective as it won’t need to deploy a fleet of food delivery executives or persuade restaurants to sell on Flipkart, the report added.

Inc42 has reached out to both Flipkart and ONDC for comments on the development. The story will be updated based on the response.

In April, it was reported that the government asked ecommerce players Amazon and Flipkart to set up ONDC storefronts on their home pages to help the network scale up operations, facilitate deliveries and address any issues or delays.

This development comes after ONDC reported rapid growth in May, with a record 89 Lakh transactions across retail and ride-hailing segments, marking a 23% month-on-month (MoM) increase.

Launched in 2021 under the aegis of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), ONDC is an open protocol-based network that will enable local commerce across multiple segments including grocery, and mobility, among others. 

On the back of this platform, the government intends to shore up India’s ecommerce penetration to 25% as ONDC eyes a gross merchandise value (GMV) of $48 Bn in the next couple of years.

Since its launch, many startups and major companies have joined the ONDC network to enhance their business operations. 

In April, Ola was developing a feature to let users purchase groceries, fashion, and apparel through its app. Similarly, PhonePe introduced services like food delivery and ticket booking via ONDC. 

Companies such as Delhivery, Dainik Jagran, Uber, IDFC Bank, Kotak, Dunzo, and Tata Neu have also integrated some of their services with ONDC. Additionally, the Gautam Adani-led Adani Group is reportedly considering entering the ecommerce and fintech sectors using the ONDC platform.

Another conglomerate, Reliance Retail, also reportedly rolled out a pilot programme on the ONDC via Fynd to test waters on the network. 

Besides, in May, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) announced that 12 Indian unicorn startups, including EaseMyTrip, OfBusiness, Zerodha, and PhysicsWallah, signed letters of intent to join the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).