DPI Deep Dive — Thursday | July 16, 2026

Layer: L4 — Commerce & Logistics | ONDC, GeM, and the digitisation of India’s trade infrastructure

India’s commerce and logistics layer of its Digital Public Infrastructure stack had an eventful week. From Uber doubling down on ONDC-powered B2B logistics and metro ticketing expansion, to the government mandating GeM portal procurement for newspapers and magazines across all ministries, and the continued broadening of ONDC’s transit and logistics network — the week of July 9–16, 2026, underscored how open digital rails are steadily rewiring how India buys, sells, and moves goods.

Here are the five key developments.

1. Uber Deepens ONDC Bet: Uber Direct B2B Logistics and Metro Ticketing Expand to Bangalore

Uber India made its most ambitious move yet into India’s digital commerce infrastructure this week, launching Uber Direct — a behind-the-scenes B2B logistics service — and extending metro ticketing to Bangalore’s Namma Metro, both powered by the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). ¹

Uber Direct is materially different from its consumer-facing Uber Courier product. Rather than being booked directly through the Uber app by end consumers, Uber Direct functions as a white-label logistics engine that operates behind the scenes for businesses. Orders placed on seller apps or websites get fulfilled by Uber’s delivery network, with the consumer only interacting with the delivery partner at the doorstep. ²

The service went live in Bangalore on ONDC’s digital rails, with Uber drivers immediately fulfilling grocery deliveries for brands like Zepto and KPN Farm Fresh. Food delivery expansion to brands like KFC, Burger King, Taco Bell, and Rebel Foods was slated to follow within weeks. ³

On the transit side, Uber’s metro ticketing — already live in Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai — now covers Bangalore. Users can purchase QR-based metro tickets and access real-time information within the Uber app, with UPI as the exclusive payment method. Prabhjeet Singh, President of Uber India and South Asia, indicated that more metro integrations and Uber Direct city launches are planned throughout 2026. ¹

Why it matters: Uber’s expansion signals a major validation of ONDC’s B2B logistics model. With Uber’s active earner base having grown from 1 million to over 1.5 million in roughly a year, the company is essentially turning its mobility fleet into an interchangeable logistics backbone — one that any ONDC-connected merchant can tap into. This is the interoperable commerce thesis in action.

2. Allcargo Gati Joins ONDC Network for B2B Logistics

Allcargo Gati, one of India’s largest express distribution and supply chain companies, formally joined the ONDC Network as a B2B logistics provider this week, significantly expanding the range of enterprise-grade logistics options available on the platform. ⁴

Leveraging its infrastructure across 19,800 PIN codes spanning 735 districts, Allcargo Gati offers express distribution, warehousing, and last-mile delivery through ONDC. The company brings AI-driven route optimisation and an advanced hub-and-spoke model to the network, capabilities that smaller logistics providers on ONDC may lack. ⁴

Ketan Kulkarni, Managing Director and CEO of Gati Express and Supply Chain Limited, said the move aligns with the government’s vision for “an open and inclusive e-commerce ecosystem.” ONDC’s Acting CEO Vibhor Jain described the integration as “a pivotal shift in how B2B logistics is delivered in India,” noting that with logistics costs remaining a significant drag on GDP, ONDC’s framework offers a pathway to greater efficiency and cost reduction at scale. ⁴

Why it matters: Allcargo Gati’s entry adds serious scale and technology to ONDC’s logistics layer. With sectors like automotive, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, and durable products already in its portfolio, its presence on ONDC gives MSMEs access to enterprise-grade logistics without the enterprise price tag.

3. Government Mandates GeM for Newspaper and Magazine Procurement

In a move aimed at tightening procurement transparency, the Government of India directed all Ministries and Departments to procure newspapers and magazines exclusively through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal. ⁵

The directive, issued this week, makes GeM the sole authorised channel for government subscriptions to print media — a category that had traditionally been procured through fragmented, opaque processes with limited competitive bidding. The move is expected to bring thousands of government offices onto a single digital procurement platform, improving price discovery and auditability. ⁵

GeM also tightened its enforcement of BIS/IS certification requirements for product categories that require mandatory certification, and continues to incentivise MSME participation through Udyam registration-linked benefits including caution money exemptions and EMD waivers. ⁶

Why it matters: This is a small but symbolic expansion of GeM’s mandate. Each new mandatory procurement category widens the platform’s transaction volume and supplier base. For publishers and distributors, it means competing on a level, digital playing field. For the government, it adds another data point to its procurement analytics capabilities.

4. ONDC’s Transit Network Expands: Katch Mobility for Private City Bus Ticketing

ONDC extended its urban mobility footprint by onboarding Katch Mobility, a Gujarat-based startup, as a buyer and seller network participant for private city bus ticketing — marking the first-ever integration of smart Point of Sale (PoS) machines with the ONDC Network. ⁷

With this, ONDC now supports intracity bus ticketing across 10 cities: Delhi (via DTC), 4 cities in Odisha (via CRUT), and 5 new cities in Gujarat — Gandhinagar, Anand, Botad, Vadodara, and Mehsana. Commuters can book tickets via the Katch Mobility Android app or directly inside buses using smart PoS machines integrated with ONDC. ⁷

Vibhor Jain, Acting CEO of ONDC, called the integration a demonstration of “how open digital infrastructure can transform access to everyday services like urban transport.” The model creates a scalable template for digitising private city transport through an open, interoperable network. ⁷

Why it matters: While metro ticketing on ONDC has garnered more attention, city bus networks carry significantly higher daily passenger volumes across India. Bringing private bus operators onto ONDC — not just state-run ones — dramatically expands the addressable market. The smart PoS integration is particularly notable: it brings digital commerce to cash-heavy, on-the-spot transactions that have traditionally been excluded from the digital economy.

5. Piyush Goyal’s Spain Visit: Positioning India’s Commerce Infrastructure Globally

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal concluded a multi-day visit to Spain, where he advanced India’s economic partnership through high-level talks on trade, investment, and manufacturing — with digital commerce infrastructure as a recurring theme. ⁸

At the India-Spain Business Forum, jointly organised by FICCI and Spanish industry chambers, Goyal showcased India’s DPI stack — including ONDC and UPI — as foundational layers that make India an attractive destination for trade and investment. The discussions touched on expanding cooperation in logistics, with India positioning its Gati Shakti framework and National Logistics Policy as enabling infrastructure for cross-border trade. ⁸

Separately, India’s logistics costs — now estimated at 7.97% of GDP — continue to fall under the PM Gati Shakti programme, with Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals driving multimodal efficiency gains. ⁹

Why it matters: Goyal’s international engagements increasingly frame India’s DPI — ONDC, UPI, GeM — as exportable infrastructure, not just domestic tools. As countries across the Global South explore interoperable digital commerce networks, India’s lived experience with ONDC becomes a diplomatic asset.

Cross-Layer Connections

This week’s developments illustrate the deep interconnection between DPI layers:

• Payments (L2) → Commerce (L4): UPI remains the exclusive payment rail for Uber’s metro ticketing on ONDC, cementing the payments-commerce lock-in that makes India’s stack so powerful.
• Data Exchange (L3) → Commerce (L4): GeM’s procurement analytics capabilities — tracking spending patterns, supplier performance, and category-level data — depend on standardised data exchange protocols.
• Governance (L6) → Commerce (L4): The GeM newspaper procurement mandate is fundamentally a governance reform using commerce infrastructure as the delivery mechanism.

The Big Picture

ONDC’s momentum this week — with Uber Direct, Allcargo Gati, and Katch Mobility all going live — points to a network that is moving beyond its early food-delivery experimentation phase into a genuinely multi-sector commerce backbone. B2B logistics is becoming the platform’s fastest-growing vertical, with both global players (Uber) and domestic logistics majors (Allcargo Gati, Ekart) now competing on the same open rails.

GeM, meanwhile, continues its quiet expansion into procurement categories that were previously considered too fragmented or politically sensitive for digital procurement. The newspaper mandate is a case in point — small in isolation, but part of a systematic push to make GeM the default for all government buying.

Together, these developments suggest that India’s L4 Commerce & Logistics layer is maturing from a collection of pilot projects into production-grade infrastructure that is reshaping how goods, services, and logistics are bought and sold across the country.

Published as part of the DPI Watch daily deep dive series. Follow @DPIWatch for daily analysis of India’s seven-layer Digital Public Infrastructure stack.