ONDC En Route to Raise ₹430 Crore from Zoho, Uber, Paytm, Amul, and Others to Power ‘ONDC 2.0’
New Delhi: In a major push toward expanding India's digital public infrastructure, the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is raising ₹430 crore from a powerhouse consortium of strategic investors. According to recent regulatory filings accessed via the Registrar of Companies (RoC), the funding round features prominent institutional names, tech giants, financial conglomerates, and FMCG majors, including Zoho, Uber, Paytm, Amul, and the State Bank of India (SBI).
The capital injection is designed to accelerate the network’s transition into its next phase of evolution, internally designated as the ONDC 2.0 strategy. This roadmap aims to deepen national e-commerce infrastructure, scale operations across multiple sectors, and build highly interoperable, sovereign digital solutions for Indian businesses.
Inside the ₹430 Crore Funding Breakdown
The fundraising is structured across multiple tranches. ONDC has already secured a firm commitment of ₹220 crore from primary capital infusions, with the remaining ₹210 crore set to roll out in subsequent tranches from both new and existing marquee investors.
The individual allocations from the primary contributors include:
Zoho Corporation: Emerged as the anchor investor of this phase with an infusion of ₹70 crore.
Uber & Paytm: Contributed ₹60 crore each, signaling deeper operational alignment following their prior integration with the network.
State Bank of India (SBI): Set to invest ₹60 crore in the upcoming tranches.
BSE Technologies: The technology arm of the Bombay Stock Exchange infused ₹30 crore.
Amul, National Stock Exchange (NSE), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Quality Council of India (QCI), and NAFED: Each scheduled to contribute ₹30 crore in ongoing tranches.
Fueling ONDC 2.0: AI-Driven Commerce and Sovereign Tech
Backed by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), ONDC’s fundamental mission is to eliminate market fragmentation, lower barriers to entry for small businesses, and break the monopolies of traditional e-commerce aggregators.
The freshly acquired capital will be specifically deployed to build the tech rails for ONDC 2.0. This includes scaling digital public projects like DigiCatalog, reinforcing quality assurance guardrails, and advancing AI-led and agentic commerce initiatives. The goal is to make digital trade more intuitive and universally accessible across retail, logistics, mobility, and financial sectors.
Underscoring the alignment of private capital with nation-building, Sivaramakrishnan Iswaran, CEO of Zoho Payment Technologies, remarked on their ₹70 crore contribution:
"India's economy depends heavily on MSMEs, yet they face challenges on all fronts. ONDC is an excellent initiative that gives power back to MSMEs, enabling them to expand their customer reach. Zoho shares with ONDC its philosophy of building sovereign technology to champion accessibility and inclusion."
Expanding Horizons into Mobility and Mass Transit
The participation of consumer-facing behemoths like Uber and Paytm signals how ONDC is rapidly expanding past standard retail. Both companies have actively utilized the open network to redefine urban mobility and digital ticketing.
Uber, which recently integrated metro ticketing across five major cities on the ONDC platform, noted that the capital injection will pave the way for broader public transit integration and advanced multimodal logistics. Paytm has similarly scaled its mass-transit utility, processing upwards of 300,000 bus and metro tickets daily across 21 cities on the network.
As of the close of Financial Year 2025–26, ONDC has reported a staggering growth curve, processing over 218 million transactions. With the rollout of ONDC 2.0 and the solid financial backing of India's top financial institutions and corporate giants, the network is well-positioned to scale its operations to hundreds of millions of untapped buyers and micro-merchants across Bharat.