For the first time, in December, the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) surpassed five million transactions in a single month involving ride-hailing and retail sales.

About 2.1 million of the 5.5 million transactions completed by ONDC in December fell into the retail category, and 3.4 million into the mobility category.

Of the 2.1 million orders made in the retail section, one-third were for food delivery and the other two-thirds were for fashion purchases. The remaining transactions were divided between more recent categories such as electronics and cosmetics.

The percentage of retail sales today is a sharp contrast to the early 2023 transaction breakdown, in which the mobility category accounted for 90–95 percent of all ONDC transactions and retail accounted for just 5–10 percent.

In just 11 months, retail purchases on ONDC have increased more than 1,700 times, from 1,281 in January to 2.1 million in December.

On ONDC, monthly e-commerce sales exceeded 1.5 million in November. By the end of the year, the network hopes to have up to eight million monthly transactions. A peak of over 95,000 retail orders in a single day has already been observed.

The network also aims to reach a gross merchandise value of $48 billion and raise the percentage of e-commerce in the nation to 25 percent during the next two years. There are currently roughly 40,000 sellers on the network, distributed throughout 200 locations.

Bitsila, EkSecond, uEngage, GrowthFalcons, and Magicpin are the primary food seller apps available on the network.

A number of cutting-edge businesses, including Paytm, Ola, PhonePe, Meesho, Magicpin, and Shiprocket, have placed bets on the government-backed ONDC in the last six months in an attempt to unseat a few dominant competitors in the nation's online retail space, including Amazon, Flipkart, Zomato, and Swiggy.

On the other hand, established FMCG players such as Unilever and ITC have also entered the market since ONDC offers them the chance to sell directly to customers and cut down on expensive distribution expenses.

In the following two years, the government wants to raise the percentage of e-commerce in the nation to 25 percent using ONDC, resulting in a gross merchandise value of $48 billion.