Reliance owned retail-owned Grab.in, a last-mile logistics provider, has merged its platform with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) network.

Grab.in is a subsidiary of Reliance Retail which holds around an 80 percent stake in the company.
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 unorganized retailers online.

Pratish Sanghvi, a cofounder, Grab.in says, “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.”

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

According to reports, 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 on boarding merchants, logistics partners and other stakeholders on the network so more transactions can be done across the country.

According to reports, 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.

The incremental convenience that UPI offered was a compelling reason for adoption. That may not be the case with ONDC, as per reports.