ONDC goes beta live in five additional cities

Along with Bengaluru and Meerut, which went Beta live in September 2022 and December 2022, respectively, the network is now accessible to buyers (consumers) and sellers in these additional five cities. Consumers will be able to purchase from the sellers on the ONDC network through four active buyer applications — Paytm, Mystore, Spice Money, and Magicpin.

Thampy Koshy, chief executive of ONDC, said, “We started with Bengaluru and Meerut and now have a sizable number of sellers, enough to extend the network to other cities. We hope that with this beta announcement, more and more businesses will be inclined to join us, benefiting from an early-mover advantage. Additionally, as we touch more consumer territories, it also gives us the insights and opportunities to improve the network.”

Currently, the network has more than 40,000 sellers live in more than 200 cities, out of which more than 18,000 sellers operate from these five cities.

ONDC had its alpha rollout in April 2022 in five cities to test live transactions with a closed group of sellers and buyers while gradually expanding its footprint. The main objective to go beta live is to allow consumers to experience the open network for the first time, collect real-time feedback and also test the network at scale before the pan-India rollout, the network said, in a statement, on Wednesday.