The Indian food delivery space is pretty much a duopoly currently, with Swiggy and Zomato as the two players who have owned the space.
The ability to order and get food at the tip of your fingertips and at your doorstep, has made these platforms popular. The competition is stiff between them as they go neck to neck to compete with each other by giving competitive offers for users.
Lets just say that this space was also being vied or for that matter eyed by the Indian government and hence it has emerged with a new network, ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce), that allows the end users to order food at cheaper costs as it eliminates the need of any third party app and lets the restaurants sell food directly to consumers.
It was back in September 2022, that the Silicon Valley of India, Bengaluru, got this app as a pilot. Fast forward to now, the network is live in multiple cities and people are using it to get the best of deals.
Cheaper Food than Swiggy, Zomato
So, it was not just any gimmick as the food ordered from ONDC is actually quite cheaper than the food delivery platforms like Swiggy and Zomato.
For the comparison, an order that costs Rs 209 on Swiggy and 212 on Zomato costs only Rs 147 on the network.
There was also significant difference when it comes to ordering from big franchise businesses liked McDonalds, for example the order of 4 burgers and 4 large fries had total bill amount in Zomato and Swiggy as Rs 702 and Rs 768 respectively, while when ordered via ONDC, the bill amount was Rs 639.
How to use ONDC and order from it?
You can use ONDC via the Paytm app. Simply head over to Paytm and type ‘ONDC’ in the search bar. You will then see a variety of options ranging from groceries and cleaning essentials to the food store.
If you are trying to order food from a restaurant, head over to ONDC Food and check out the cuisine that you are trying to order. You will then see a number of restaurants and can order your favourite food online just the way you do with other food delivery platforms.
Notably, since it is bit new, not all restaurants are selling food through this network as we speak.
However, this is a great proposition by the government and definitely helps the cause.
