The government's initiative ONDC on Wednesday said its beta version has now become live in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata.
     
Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is an initiative of the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
     
It said that along with Bengaluru and Meerut, which were chosen for going beta live in September 2022 and December 2022, respectively, the network is now accessible to buyers (consumers) and sellers in these additional five cities.
     
Consumers will be able to purchase from the sellers on the ONDC network through four active buyer applications -- Paytm, Mystore, Spice Money, and Magicpin, it said.
     
Currently, the network has over 40,000 sellers live in over 200 cities, out of which more than 18,000 sellers operate from these five cities.
    
ONDC had its alpha roll-out in April 2022 in five cities to test live transactions with a closed group of sellers and buyers while gradually expanding its footprint.
     
The main objective to go beta live is to allow consumers to experience the open network for the first time, collect real-time feedback and also test the network at scale before the pan-India roll-out.
     
T Koshy, MD and CEO of ONDC said, "We hope that with this beta announcement, more and more businesses will be inclined to join us, benefiting from an early-mover advantage. Additionally, as we touch more consumer territories, it also gives us insights and opportunities to improve the network.