Is ONDC actually working for D2C brands, or is it still early and broken?
The short answer
Mixed, grocery and F&B retailers with simple SKUs have reported real margin gains (15-25% higher take-home in some documented cases) by cutting out marketplace commission, but D2C brands with more complex catalogues report clunky onboarding, low current buyer-side volume, and pricing that's still opaque compared to established marketplaces. Treat ONDC in 2026 as an experiment worth running in parallel with your existing channels, not a channel to bet your growth plan on yet. The upside case is real (network effects compounding as more buyer apps join) but unproven at D2C-brand scale.
A quick summary to orient you. The real value is below: the resources worth your time, from people who've actually done it, not us.
Here are the resources
Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time. India-specific ones carry a badge.
Why we picked it
The honest counter-view every founder should read before betting on ONDC, awareness gaps, scalability friction, opaque pricing, and real founder quotes about needing outside help to onboard.
Why we picked it
A deeper strategic explainer on why ONDC exists and what it's trying to disrupt, useful context for understanding the network's ambitions versus its current reality.
Why we picked it
The official ONDC page for sellers - the source of truth on how to actually onboard, which buyer/seller apps are live, and what the network currently supports, rather than a third-party summary.
