Reliance-backed Dunzo’s B2B logistics arm joins ONDC

ET reported on August 1 that Reliance Retail-owned Grab.in, a last-mile logistics provider, had integrated its platform with ONDC, marking Reliance’s formal entry into the much-hyped network.

“Starting our journey with key metros, we will scale our services to more cities and become the backbone for intra-city deliveries in the Indian ecommerce ecosystem,” said Dalvir Suri, cofounder of Dunzo and head of D4B.

D4B has a fleet of over 75,000 delivery partners, connecting over 20,000 merchants to customers.

T Koshy, CEO, ONDC said in a statement, “This partnership will accelerate our efforts to make last-mile logistics accessible to a wider audience of buyers and sellers across India.”

The network, which aims to go live in 100 cities by the end of August, is onboarding sellers, logistic providers and payment partners. ONDC aims to combat the dominance of ecommerce giants Amazon India and Walmart-owned Flipkart by bringing unorganised retailers online.

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Smaller players like live video shopping and selling app Kiko Live have also integrated with ONDC, a senior executive said.

Kiko Live claims to have 10,000 registered sellers across categories such as grocery, stationary, cosmetics and electronics. The company said it plans to be on the platform by September.

Kiko Live’s integration with ONDC means sellers listed on the app will be discoverable across the network, said cofounder Alok Chawla. The company is backed by Venture Catalysts and angel investors such as Nitish Mittersain, founder,

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Kiko Live started life as an influencer-led video and live commerce platform. It is now using its live commerce technology in a business-to-business model in which it onboards local retailers to the app and helps them conduct video calls and livestreams with customers and take orders. It also offers payment and delivery solutions.

“Ecommerce is growing rapidly in India. However, the benefit was so far enjoyed only by a limited few large and organised sellers. Small sellers and retailers have constantly been voicing their concerns about the bias of marketplaces which has been eating into their business. ONDC is a great solution to drive business growth for the smallest of sellers and make them equal players in the digital selling space,” Chawla said.