Article

Three yrs since launch, govt-backed e-commerce network ONDC is a tortoise running with the hares

Udit Bubna · ThePrint Free Intermediate India

ThePrint's June 2025 look at ONDC's numbers three years in: where orders grew, where they fell, and what the cut in incentives did to retail.

  • Retail orders (fashion, food, grocery) fell from 6.5 million in October 2024 to 4.3 million in April 2025
  • Mobility grew to 58% of network orders by April 2025
  • ONDC charged sellers no commission, but reduced discounts weakened buyers' price advantage
Open on theprint.in ↗

The question it answers

  1. Is ONDC actually working for D2C brands, or is it still early and broken?

Read with it

  1. A deeper strategic explainer on why ONDC exists and what it's trying to disrupt, useful context for understanding the network's... Inc42 Article How India's Ambitious ONDC Project Can Reinvent Indian Ecommerce Inc42
  2. The honest counter-view every founder should read before betting on ONDC, awareness gaps, scalability friction, opaque pricing,... Inc42 Article ONDC's Reality Check Inc42
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →