ONDC Scales Up Financial Services with Focus on Consumer Apps: Report 

Initial pilot studies for credit disbursals via the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) are being conducted by Tata Neu, a multipurpose app developed by the Tata Group, and credit marketplace Paisabazaar. This is as per a report by the Economic Times. 

Lenders such as DMI Finance and Aditya Birla Finance have already connected with the ONDC network to provide loans. To find and source customers, these apps need consumer-facing platforms such as Tata Neu and Paisabazaar. Currently, ONDC has seven loan service providers on its platform. EasyPay, Tata Digital, Paisabazaar, Cliniq360, and InvoicePe are some of the early loan service providers in the app. 

As per the Economic Times, Hrushikesh Mehta, ONDC senior vice president, financial services, said, “Credit on ONDC has started pilots recently... A number of more LSPs are in the process of integrating. The early adopter lenders are DMI Finance and Aditya Birla Finance. A number of NBFCs and banks (both private and public sector) are in the process of integrating.” 

Once financial services are added to the ecosystem, the government-backed ONDC will complete its service route. ONDC offers various services, including fashion, electronics, groceries, food and beverages, beauty and personal care, credit, insurance, and more. 

At the beginning, government-backed ONDC wants to reportedly start with unsecured personal loans and invoice loans for small merchants based on GST. Eventually, ONDC intends to give working capital loans to these merchants. 

The platform aims to target even those consumers or retailers who do not have access to banks and NBFCs. Although credit is the foundation, ONDC eventually wants to go into investing and insurance as well. With the help of Bajaj Allianz and the insurance marketplace InsuranceDekho, the platform also completed a trial transaction for maritime insurance.