New Delhi, May 13 -- Zoho Corporation has invested Rs.70 crore in the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), directing capital toward the expansion of India's open digital commerce infrastructure.
The investment signals a shift in how large technology companies are engaging with government-backed digital public infrastructure. Rather than operating within closed marketplace ecosystems, ONDC functions as an interoperable network where sellers, buyers, and logistics providers can transact across platforms without being locked into a single operator.
Zoho already operates within the ONDC ecosystem through products including Vikra, its seller app on the network, alongside Zoho Books, Zoho Inventory, and Zoho Commerce. These tools are used by small businesses to manage sales, accounting, and logistics within the ONDC framework.
The numbers behind ONDC's current scale are notable. The network enabled 218 million transactions in FY 2025-26. Its DigiDukaan programme onboarded over 10,000 kirana stores within months of launch. Order volumes for rural sellers, farmers, artisans, and craftspeople, grew 11 times in the same financial year.
Beyond retail, ONDC has expanded into logistics and mobility. Its FIFO fleet allocation model scaled 50 times in six months, improving earnings for gig workers. Metro ticketing through ONDC is now live across nine metro systems and accessible via more than 25 apps.
Sivaramakrishnan Iswaran, CEO of Zoho Payment Technologies and Global Head of Finance and Operations BU, Zoho, said, "Zoho shares with ONDC its philosophy of building sovereign technology to champion accessibility, flexibility, and inclusion of businesses of every size. We further believe that the private sector must play its part in nation-building."
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from TechCircle.