The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) network is now connected with Grab.in, a last-mile logistics company owned by Reliance Retail. Reliance Retail, which owns about 80% of Grab.in, is a subsidiary of the corporation.

Mumbai-based Grab.in was acquired by Reliance Industries in 2019 and is now housed under Reliance Retail.

While Reliance Retail-backed Dunzo is already on the ONDC as one of the logistics partners, Grab's entry marks Reliance's formal entry into the much-hyped network, pitched as a disruptor to break the dominance of ecommerce companies Amazon India and Walmart-owned Flipkart by bringing unorganised retailers online.

According to reports, Reliance, along with Flipkart and Amazon, were in talks to join the ONDC.

Grab.in will support intracity hyperlocal deliveries, said Pratish Sanghvi, a cofounder.

The ONDC network has started a pilot in six cities across categories like grocery and small bakery items.

“Currently, we are in the process of initiating the pilot project with the ONDC and it is at a nascent stage. We look forward to growing our partnership with the ONDC and our focus will be to provide a smooth and efficient delivery experience for our clients across sectors,” Sanghvi said.

Founded in 2014, Grab.in caters to restaurants, online grocers, offline and online retail, ecommerce platforms, kirana stores and pharmacies.

The integration of third-party logistics players on the ONDC would be crucial for the delivery of orders that would be placed on the network. Currently, ONDC executives are busy onboarding merchants, logistics partners and other stakeholders on the network so more transactions can be done across the country. ET reported that platforms like PhonePe are in advanced stages of integration and that would give a boost to the network.

Sellers on the ONDC network can opt to fulfil deliveries on their own or work with one of the integrated logistics providers.

Logistics providers such as Flipkart’s logistics arm Ekart have already integrated with the ONDC. The integration with Shiprocket went live in Lucknow in June, as reported by ET on July 20.

“The focus right now is on integrations and making sure the consumer experience is good when they try it, because that’s critical. Platforms like PhonePe are focusing on the buyer side integration fully that’s why as the network is getting ready to scale,” one of the people aware of the matter said.

While the ONDC is still at a nascent stage, some expect it to have an impact on ecommerce similar to what the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) had on digital payments.

However, a recent report from Jefferies said the current service levels by Amazon and Flipkart were satisfactory for most users and the value proposition for the ONDC should be strong enough for customers to switch. “The incremental convenience that UPI offered was a compelling reason for adoption. That may not be the case with ONDC,” it said in a report last month.

The platform is targeting to go live in 100 cities by the end of August. Its chief executive told ET on June 25 that several players were planning to join the ONDC on the buyer and seller side and over 150 apps would be integrated with the network soon.