Uber says it may integrate with India’s ONDC, Uber and a government-backed company in India have inked a memorandum of understanding with the objective of facilitating mobility and commerce throughout the South Asian country.
The massive ride-hailing company announced on Thursday that it will investigate integrating with Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to extend the scope of its mobility solutions through the Uber app. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stated that the company views open-source tech stacks with a lot of interest and recognizes the opportunities they bring for everyone during a Bengaluru event.
Prabhjeet Singh, President of Uber India and South Asia, continued in a statement, “We are excited to take our first step through this MoU with ONDC to explore how we can accelerate our ambition to make Uber a platform for every Indian’s daily mobility needs.”
Uber will first integrate on the ONDC network for ticketing for intercity buses throughout India and metro rail as a buying application, as we have learned exclusively.
The ONDC is a bold endeavor aimed at upending the nation’s rapidly expanding e-commerce and mobility industries. By offering an open platform that connects buyers and sellers across markets and makes it easier for small shops to contact customers, ONDC, which was founded in 2021, seeks to democratize online commerce. The ONDC entered the transportation industry last year.
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The lack of famous celebrities to participate in ONDC has been one of the initiative’s biggest obstacles, despite its progress. While companies such as Amazon and Flipkart have indicated their desire to be included in the open network, their involvement is still restricted at this time.
“As the Open Network is continuously evolving, MTT (mobility, transport and travel) is certainly a critical sector for us. Different players together on the network foster innovation and newer business models,” said T Koshy, MD and CEO of ONDC, in a statement. “Today’s MoU is a major step forward and one we hope will enable a diverse range of mobility solutions to benefit every Indian.”
In addition to attempting to draw in large corporations, ONDC is focusing on making the network self-sufficient. In a recent interview with TechCrunch, Koshy revealed that the ONDC board was debating a strategy to begin charging a marginal fee to certain participants.
It needs to be extremely little and contrary to ongoing corporate operations. He had stated that the price model would be finalized in a month and made public in a few months, stressing that it shouldn’t burden upcoming small firms.
Uber is a major player in India, where it is constantly growing its product line. The company, which in India faces up against SoftBank-backed Ola, sold UberEats to regional delivery juggernaut Zomato in 2020. On Thursday, a beaming Khosrowshahi joked that he would look into going back into the nation’s meal delivery industry.
He claimed that one of the most difficult markets worldwide is India. He continued, saying, “The Indian customer is so demanding and doesn’t want to pay for anything.”
