DPI Deep Dive — Thursday | June 04, 2026

L4 — Commerce & Logistics: ONDC, GeM

This week’s deep dive examines India’s Commerce & Logistics digital infrastructure layer, where two landmark developments signal a decisive shift in the country’s digital commerce architecture. ONDC’s ₹220 crore fundraise from blue-chip strategic investors marks the network’s transition from pilot to national infrastructure, while GeM’s expanding footprint — from a new portal overhaul to conservation-linked community commerce — showcases the maturation of government procurement digitisation.

1. ONDC Raises ₹220 Crore as Uber, Zoho, Paytm and BSE Place Strategic Bets

The Open Network for Digital Commerce has secured ₹220 crore ($23.1 million) in a strategic funding round, with the board resolution passed on May 12, 2026, allotting 2.2 crore equity shares at ₹100 face value each via private placement. The investor mix is telling: Zoho led with ₹70 crore as the largest contributor, while Uber and Paytm each committed ₹60 crore, and BSE Technologies infused ₹30 crore.

This is not merely a capital injection — it is a statement of intent from India’s technology and financial services establishment. Uber becomes one of the first global technology companies to take an equity stake in ONDC, and its investment builds on an existing operational partnership: the ride-hailing platform’s metro ticketing service is already live on the ONDC network across five cities, with over 10 million metro rides booked to date. Prabhjeet Singh, President of Uber India and South Asia, framed it as a long-term bet on India’s DPI: “India has been at the forefront of building Digital Public Infrastructure that is inclusive, interoperable, and transformative at scale.”

Paytm, which already processes over 300,000 metro and bus tickets daily across 21 cities on ONDC, described its investment as deepening a “shared mission of digital inclusion.” Zoho’s participation — the Chennai-headquartered SaaS giant rarely invests in external platforms — signals that enterprise technology providers now see ONDC as infrastructure they must be part of.

The ONDC 2.0 Roadmap

The funding is explicitly tied to ONDC’s “ONDC 2.0” strategy, which the organisation says aims to “transition the network from a functional proof-of-concept to a value-creating national digital commerce infrastructure.” The capital will be deployed across several pillars:

  • AI and agentic commerce: Lowering participation barriers for small sellers through AI-powered cataloguing, search, and order management.
  • DigiCatalog: A national infrastructure for product cataloguing — essentially a standardised digital product registry that any seller on any ONDC-connected app can plug into.
  • Quality assurance and trust infrastructure: Building buyer and seller trust mechanisms at the network level rather than app level.
  • Sector expansion: Moving beyond retail and food delivery into financial services, tourism, and logistics.

ONDC is now targeting a total raise of ₹430 crore, with the remaining ₹210 crore expected from existing shareholders like SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, NSE, and new strategic investors including Amul and PNB. The existing investor roster — featuring India’s largest banks, stock exchanges, and CSC e-Governance — underscores that ONDC is increasingly viewed not as a startup but as core digital infrastructure.

Cross-Layer Connections

This funding round draws a direct line to L2 (Payments): Paytm and the banking system are both L2 actors investing in L4 infrastructure. The mobility ticketing use case sits at the intersection of L2 (UPI-based payments for tickets), L3 (digital ticket delivery), and L4 (ONDC as the discovery and commerce layer). Uber’s investment also signals how global players are adapting to — rather than resisting — India’s interoperable commerce model.

2. ONDC Crosses 450 Million Transactions; Mobility Becomes the Growth Engine

Beyond the funding headlines, ONDC crossed a significant operational milestone in May 2026: 450 million cumulative transactions across retail, logistics, mobility, public transport, tourism, and financial services.

The most striking growth driver is mobility and public transport. ONDC now processes over 300,000 metro and bus ticket bookings daily. Metro ticketing is operational across Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kochi, Pune, Nagpur, and all Mumbai Metro lines — accessible through more than 30 consumer apps including Uber, Rapido, Paytm, ixigo, Namma Yatri, redBus, magicpin, and Navi. Intra-city bus ticketing covers operators like DTC (Delhi), CRUT (Odisha), and BEST (Mumbai), bookable through apps like Chartr, One Delhi, WhatsApp, Tummoc, and Chalo.

Tourism offerings have also scaled to over 850 experiences on the network, and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) recently enabled online ticket booking for over 170 centrally protected monuments and museums through ONDC.

Why This Matters

The mobility traction validates a critical design thesis of ONDC: that an open, interoperable network can succeed not just in retail e-commerce (where it competes with Amazon and Flipkart) but also in sectors where the network effect of standardised APIs dramatically reduces integration costs. A metro operator doesn’t need to build separate integrations with 30 apps — it connects once to ONDC, and any ONDC-compatible app can sell its tickets. This is the “UPI moment” for commerce infrastructure.

The daily volume of 300,000+ transit bookings also demonstrates that ONDC has moved beyond the early-adopter phase. Public transport users are not making a philosophical choice about open networks — they are simply booking a metro ticket through the app they already use. That simplicity is the point.

3. Kaziranga’s Eco-Shop Lands on GeM: Conservation Meets Digital Commerce

In a compelling example of GeM being used beyond traditional government procurement, Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve launched its “Eco-Shop” on both GeM and Amazon on June 1, 2026 — connecting conservation-linked livelihoods to national digital marketplaces.

The Eco-Shop, managed by the Kaziranga Staff Welfare Society, sells handcrafted, eco-friendly products made by artisans in fringe villages around the national park: handloom textiles with traditional animal motifs and natural dyes, woodcraft, decorative items, edibles (pickles and honey), and water hyacinth products. Under the Ministry of Textiles’ SAMARTH scheme, over 300 women from local communities have been trained in these craft traditions.

The numbers are modest but meaningful: Eco-Shop sales reached ₹1.87 crore in FY 2025-26, up from ₹1.24 crore in FY 2024-25 — a 50% year-on-year increase. The listing on GeM and Amazon is expected to significantly expand visibility, generate consistent demand, and provide broader customer access for these community producers.

GeM’s Expanding Role

This development highlights GeM’s evolution from a B2G procurement portal into a broader platform for government-linked commerce. While GeM’s core mandate remains government buying — with major bids like SECL’s ₹4,247 crore mining services contract and DCI’s ₹1,300 crore marine fuel procurement processed recently — its use for community welfare products demonstrates the platform’s versatility.

GeM also reported that it has signed MoUs with the National Institute for Smart Government (NISG) and TICE (a DPIIT-recognised startup platform). The NISG partnership focuses on structured training programmes, certification frameworks, and research for public procurement modernisation. The TICE MoU aims to enhance startup procurement readiness and increase young entrepreneurs’ participation in government buying — an important signal as GeM looks to deepen its startup and MSME engagement.

4. GeM Portal Overhaul in Testing; New Platform Set for Mid-Year Launch

Reports this week indicate that GeM’s new portal has officially entered the testing phase, with access currently limited to selected sellers and buyers for feedback. The new platform is expected to be launched for all users by mid-June to early July 2026.

The upgraded portal reportedly features a new dashboard, improved user experience, faster navigation, and new features designed to streamline the procurement process for both buyers and sellers. This is the most significant UI/UX overhaul of GeM since its initial launch, and comes at a time when the platform is processing increasingly large and complex procurement volumes.

A refreshed portal is overdue — GeM’s current interface has been a persistent point of feedback from both government buyers and seller MSMEs. The new design should improve adoption rates among smaller sellers who have found the existing platform’s onboarding and catalogue management cumbersome.

Cross-Layer Implications

A modernised GeM portal also connects to L3 (Documents & Data Exchange): product catalogues, certifications, and compliance documents are increasingly expected to flow through digital rather than physical channels. A better portal makes it easier for sellers to maintain and share these digital documents, reducing friction in the procurement pipeline.

This Week’s Takeaways

The L4 Commerce & Logistics layer had a standout week, characterised by two themes:

1. From experiment to infrastructure. ONDC’s ₹220 crore raise, with Uber as a first-of-its-kind global tech investor, signals that the network has crossed a credibility threshold. When a SaaS company (Zoho), a fintech (Paytm), a global mobility platform (Uber), and a stock exchange (BSE) all invest equity in the same government-backed commerce network, it is no longer a pilot — it is infrastructure.

2. GeM’s expanding mandate. From Kaziranga’s conservation-linked Eco-Shop to MoUs with startup platforms, GeM is being positioned as more than a government procurement portal — it is becoming a digital channel for government-linked commerce and community welfare. The upcoming portal overhaul should accelerate this expansion.

3. Mobility as the proving ground. ONDC’s 450 million transactions and 300,000+ daily transit bookings demonstrate that the interoperable network model works at scale in sectors beyond traditional e-commerce. The mobility sector — with its fragmented operator landscape and consumer demand for simplicity — may be where ONDC’s architecture delivers its most visible impact.

Sources: Economic Times, Business Standard, BW Retail World, Inc42, Fortune India, India Today NE, Shillong Times, GeM official social media, ONDC regulatory filings (RoC).