About ONDC
The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is a not-for-profit initiative to democratise digital commerce in India. Instead of a single platform, ONDC is an open network built on open-source specifications (the Beckn protocol) that lets any compliant buyer app and any compliant seller app transact with each other — the way email or UPI interoperate across providers. ONDC was incorporated as a Section 8 (not-for-profit) company in December 2021.
In plain English
Today, e-commerce mostly happens inside closed platforms: buyers and sellers can only transact if they are on the same platform, and a single company controls the whole chain from listing to delivery. That locks sellers into high margin costs and forces them to maintain a presence on multiple platforms, while monopolies raise barriers for everyone else. The result, per ONDC's own figures (site crawled 24 Jul 2026): of India's 12 million-plus sellers, only about 15,000 (0.125%) had enabled e-commerce, and e-retail penetration stood at just 4.3% (2020) versus 25% in China and 23% in the UK.
ONDC is not a shopping site. It is an open network that connects every kind of player involved in selling online: shopping apps (called buyer apps), sellers and the apps that list them, logistics partners who deliver, and technology service providers. No single company controls the end-to-end journey of a purchase.
Under the hood, ONDC is a communication protocol built on open-source specifications — a shared technical language, in the same spirit as the open protocols behind the web and email (HTTP, SMTP). Any app that speaks this protocol can talk to any other app on the network: buyer-side apps and seller-side apps interact directly, with ONDC defining the rules rather than sitting in the middle of transactions.
In practice this means any buyer app connects to any seller app. Open one buyer app and you can reach the entire spectrum of products and services on the network, not just that app's own catalogue. As of the ONDC site (crawled 24 Jul 2026), the network listed over 7.64 lakh (764,000+) sellers and service providers across 12 product categories, growing by thousands each week. A single order can be fulfilled by multiple independent companies — one app takes the order, a different platform lists the seller, a third handles delivery.
ONDC the organisation was incorporated in December 2021 as a Section 8 company, with the Quality Council of India and Protean eGov Technologies Limited as Founding Members. Around 30 institutions have invested in it, including State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, Punjab National Bank, NABARD, SIDBI, BSE Technologies, NSE Investments, Zoho, Uber India and One 97 Communications. Its Managing Director & CEO is Vibhor Jain (per the ONDC site, crawled 24 Jul 2026).
One caveat from ONDC itself: the network is still maturing, so not every buyer app yet covers every product category or location. Also expect order updates from more than one company after you buy — that is normal, because multiple partners fulfil each order.
Buying through the network: one order, several independent companies
Open any buyer app on the ONDC Network — for example a buyer app like Paytm (ONDC's own buyer-apps page redirects shoppers to paytm.com). Different buyer apps offer different experiences, but each one is a doorway to the same network.
Search for what you want. The app shows you sellers from across the network — not just sellers who signed up with that particular app — drawn from the 7.64 lakh+ sellers and service providers on the network (as of 24 Jul 2026).
Pick a product. The seller you're buying from is on the network through a separate seller-side platform (a Seller Network Participant) — buyers and sellers transact with each other regardless of which app each is on.
Place the order and pay in the buyer app's single, unified checkout.
Delivery is handled by yet another independent player: logistics partners on the network fulfil the order. ONDC says explicitly that one transaction can be fulfilled by multiple entities operating independently.
Watch your notifications — you may get order updates from several different companies, because several partners are involved in fulfilling your single order.
An open network, not a platform
Buyers and sellers use different apps that interoperate over a shared open protocol — no single intermediary owns the demand or the catalogue.
Population-scale inclusion
The mission is to bring all sizes of sellers — especially small-town and rural — onto e-commerce, where only ~15,000 of 12M+ Indian sellers were digitally enabled.
Founding members
Quality Council of India and Protean eGov Technologies, with investment from BSE, NSE Investments, Kotak, Axis, HDFC, HSBC, Zoho and Uber India.
Everyone's Commerce
ONDC's framing: unbundling the commerce stack so discovery, ordering, fulfilment and settlement can be provided by different, competing participants.
Links
FAQ
Is ONDC an app or a marketplace?
Neither. ONDC is a set of open specifications and a network. You transact through independent buyer and seller apps that follow the ONDC protocol.
Who runs ONDC?
ONDC is a Section 8 not-for-profit company incorporated in December 2021, with the Quality Council of India and Protean eGov Technologies as founding members.