Ola has joined the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) with plans to once again enter the food delivery business.
Still in testing phase
However the initiative is still nascent, only visible to a small number of users.
It has been testing this feature for over a month within its app.
It started out with its own employees and the small number of customers to whom it is available.
Potential rivals
The feature is titled ‘OLA ONDC food’, indicating that it will not launch a separate app for the same.
“This is big for Ola, this is likely to compete with Swiggy and others… This feature is not available for everyone, only a handful of users for now and is likely to be open for all, ” an industry source said.
Previous attempts
This would mark its fourth attempt at the food delivery segment.
The first was in July 2015 when the ride-hailing app launched a standalone online grocery store and a food delivery app.
This failed to yield results and less than nine months later it shut both Ola Store and Ola Foods.
Its last attempt was last year when it tried to integrate its cloud kitchen business with 10-minute grocery delivery.
What is ONDC?
ONDC is a non-profit company whose network allows products and services from all participating e-commerce platforms to appear in search results across all apps on the network.
Back in May, Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal spoke about the role that it plays in democratizing the country’s existing e-commerce ecosystem.
He praised the initiative as being “an engine of growth with the potential to redefine the entire industry.”
Stepping down as CEO
Ola founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal is in talks to appoint a CEO for its cab business.
It could be an ex-Unilever executive who is likely to join the company early next week.
The duty of handling the day to day affairs at the cab business after the launch of Ola Electric was delegated to a number of executives.
To take over parent entity or cab business?
It remains unclear as to whether the new CEO will lead ANI Technologies, the umbrella entity which manages Ola Cabs or just the Ola cab business.
The favorite candidate to take over Ola’s cab business is Hemant Bakshi, presently the global head and executive vice president of Unilever.
The incoming CEO was previously based in Southeast Asia and served as the country head of Unilever Indonesia.
