DPI Deep Dive — Thursday | June 11, 2026

India’s Commerce and Logistics layer (L4) of Digital Public Infrastructure had an action-packed week. From a ₹430 crore funding round for ONDC 2.0, a high-level ministerial review, the formation of a new Digital Commerce Coalition by private players, to GeM crossing ₹8.69 lakh crore in cumulative MSE procurement — the open commerce stack is accelerating. Here’s a deep dive into the five most significant developments.

1. ONDC Raises ₹430 Crore as It Transitions to ONDC 2.0

The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is raising ₹430 crore from a consortium of strategic investors — one of the largest funding rounds for a government-backed digital commerce initiative. According to regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), ONDC has already received ₹220 crore of this amount. ¹

The breakdown of the first tranche is notable for its diversity:

The remaining ₹210 crore is expected in subsequent tranches from a broader set of investors including SBI (₹60 crore), NSE (₹30 crore), Amul (₹30 crore), Punjab National Bank (₹30 crore), National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (₹30 crore), and the Quality Council of India.

What makes this significant is not just the quantum but the composition. A global mobility giant (Uber), a sovereign SaaS company (Zoho), a major fintech (Paytm), banking institutions (SBI, PNB), a dairy cooperative (Amul), and stock exchanges (BSE, NSE) are all backing a single open network. This is DPI funding by the ecosystem, for the ecosystem.

The funds will support ONDC 2.0 priorities: AI-led and agentic commerce initiatives, the DigiCatalog project for product discovery, network quality assurance, and expansion across sectors. Uber’s investment is particularly symbolic — it marks one of the earliest investments by a global technology company in India’s open digital commerce network, building on its existing integration for mobility and metro ticketing through the ONDC protocol. ¹²

2. Piyush Goyal Reviews ONDC and Nirmit Bharat, Charts Retail Transformation Roadmap

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal held a high-level review meeting with ONDC and Nirmit Bharat (ONDC’s non-profit subsidiary) on June 10, 2026, signalling top-level political commitment to the open commerce agenda. ²³

The discussions focused on four key pillars:

1. Transforming retail and distribution ecosystems — moving beyond proof-of-concept to a national-scale digital commerce infrastructure
2. Onboarding small producers and artisans onto digital platforms, addressing the digital literacy and inclusion gap
3. Strengthening logistics and mobility services through interoperable networks
4. Expanding financial inclusion through innovative digital solutions embedded in the commerce stack

Goyal emphasised that these efforts “have the potential to deepen market access, improve service delivery and drive broad-based economic participation.” The ministerial review comes at a critical inflection point — ONDC processed 218 million transactions in FY2025-26 across retail, logistics, mobility, and financial services, operating in 616 cities with over 7.64 lakh sellers on the network. ²⁴

The involvement of Nirmit Bharat is worth watching. ONDC’s subsidiary has been tasked with the “last-mile” digitization challenge — bringing the DigiDukaan initiative to kirana stores (over 10,000 already onboarded), powering the DigiHaat app for rural artisans, and running digital marketing campaigns to build seller awareness. The hiring of digital marketing veteran Shubho Sengupta at Nirmit Bharat this month signals an aggressive push on the demand-generation side. ⁵

3. Digital Commerce Coalition: Private Sector Organises for Policy Engagement

In a development that parallels ONDC’s government-led approach, five of India’s largest digital commerce companies — Amazon India, Meesho, Swiggy, Zepto, and Eternal (Zomato) — launched the Digital Commerce Coalition (DCC) on June 2, 2026. ⁶

The DCC is an industry-led policy body aimed at:

• Driving innovation in digital commerce, including quick commerce
• Building consumer trust through self-regulatory standards
• Engaging with policymakers on regulatory frameworks for the rapidly evolving sector

The formation of the DCC is both an opportunity and a challenge for the DPI framework. On one hand, it creates a structured channel for private players to contribute to policy discussions on logistics regulation, data sharing, and marketplace governance. On the other, it raises questions about the balance of power between open-network infrastructure (ONDC) and incumbent platform players who may have competing interests.

The coalition’s timing — just days before ONDC’s major funding announcement and the ministerial review — is noteworthy. It suggests the private sector is proactively organising as the government-backed open network scales up, potentially to ensure that industry perspectives are heard in shaping the rules of “Digital Commerce 2.0.”

4. GeM Crosses ₹8.69 Lakh Crore in MSE Procurement — India’s Quiet DPI Success Story

The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) released its latest milestone data on June 9, 2026, showcasing a decade of transformation in public procurement: ⁷

• 11.9 lakh MSEs registered (up from 2,396 in 2016-17)
• ₹8.69 lakh crore in cumulative procurement from MSEs
• 2.17 crore orders processed through the platform
• 2.16 lakh women-owned MSEs registered, with procurement exceeding ₹93,327 crore
• 40,000+ startups participating, with procurement worth over ₹61,400 crore
• 324 crore vaccine doses and 199 crore syringes procured through the platform during COVID-19

GeM has been described by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry as having “shifted government procurement from manual and fragmented processes to a digital, data-driven ecosystem” — a textbook DPI outcome. The platform’s adoption of AI-based tools, advanced analytics, and transparent auction mechanisms is pushing it into its next phase of evolution. ⁷⁸

GeM’s journey mirrors ONDC’s ambitions in an important way: both are attempting to reduce information asymmetry and create level playing fields, just in different markets. GeM tackled government procurement (B2G), while ONDC targets the broader retail commerce (B2C and B2B) market. The cumulative learning from GeM’s decade-long journey — from onboarding 2,396 sellers to 11.9 lakh — offers a playbook for ONDC’s own seller-acquisition challenges.

5. MSME TEAM Scheme Accelerates ONDC Onboarding for Artisans and Rural Sellers

The MSME Trade Enablement and Marketing (TEAM) Scheme, with a corpus of ₹277 crore under the RAMP Programme, is emerging as a critical bridge between government intent and ground-level digital commerce adoption. ⁹¹⁰

The scheme, operated by the Ministry of MSME in collaboration with ONDC, is conducting awareness workshops across states — from Meghalaya and Nagaland in the Northeast to IIM Shillong’s management development programmes. These workshops train MSMEs, artisans, and home-based entrepreneurs on using ONDC as a sales channel, helping them digitise their product catalogs and access the national network.

The impact is already visible: order volumes for farmers, artisans, and rural sellers on ONDC grew 11× in FY26, reflecting the compound effect of onboarding programs like MSME TEAM combined with the DigiDukaan and DigiHaat initiatives. ⁴

Ankita Pandey, Director at the Ministry of MSME, has been actively promoting the scheme, highlighting how it provides artisans and home entrepreneurs with “the tools, support, and market access needed to grow online” — a direct response to the digital literacy and onboarding capacity gaps identified by observers like Observer Research Foundation (ORF). ¹⁰

Cross-Layer Connections

This week’s developments reveal deep interconnections between DPI layers:

• L2 (Payments): ONDC transactions ride on UPI rails. As ONDC scales to 218 million transactions, the payment layer benefits from increased volume. Paytm’s investment in ONDC is strategically leveraging its position across both layers.
• L1 (Identity): GeM’s transparent procurement is enhanced by Aadhaar-based authentication of sellers and buyers. ONDC seller onboarding through the MSME TEAM scheme uses Udyam registration (linked to Aadhaar) as the entry point.
• L5 (Sectoral): Amul’s investment in ONDC connects the dairy cooperative infrastructure (a sectoral DPI) to the commerce layer. The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) doing the same for agricultural supply chains.
• L7 (Trust): As ONDC and GeM scale, the need for data protection, quality assurance, and grievance redressal grows. ONDC’s new quality assurance initiatives under ONDC 2.0 directly address this.

What to Watch

• Remaining ONDC funding tranches: Will SBI, NSE, and Amul close their investments? The speed of deployment will signal ecosystem confidence.
• ONDC 2.0 tech roadmap: DigiCatalog and agentic commerce could reshape product discovery — watch for developer previews or pilot launches.
• DCC vs ONDC dynamics: How the Digital Commerce Coalition and ONDC interact on policy issues will define the open vs closed commerce debate in India.
• GeM’s next phase: With AI tools and advanced analytics being deployed, GeM’s evolution from a procurement platform to an intelligent supply-chain infrastructure is the next frontier.

Sources