Ola’s latest move into food delivery is turning heads. Here’s how this ride-hailing giant plans to shake up the industry.
Ola has teamed up with the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to provide food delivery services, aiming to enter the fiercely competitive market currently dominated by Swiggy and Zomato.
Moneycontrol reports that Ola has discreetly tested this new feature within its app for over a month. Initially, it has been rolled out to a select group of employees and a limited number of consumers. The service can be accessed through the app under the name ‘OLA ONDC food,’ and Ola has no plans to launch a separate delivery app.
An industry insider familiar with the matter stated, “This is significant for Ola; it’s 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.”
It’s important to note that Mint could not independently verify this news at the time of reporting.
ONDC, a non-profit company, aims to revolutionize India’s e-commerce ecosystem by enabling the display of products and services from all participating e-commerce platforms in search results across various apps on the network. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had earlier praised ONDC’s transformative potential.
Meanwhile, Ola’s founder and CEO, Bhavish Aggarwal, is considering the appointment of a CEO for the company’s cab business, as reported by Economic Times. The prospective CEO is expected to be a former executive of FMCG giant Unilever, possibly Hemant Bakshi, currently serving as the global head and executive vice president of Unilever Marketplace in Singapore.
Financially, Ola Cabs recently reported a widening loss of ₹3,082 crore for the fiscal year 2021-22, with total expenses reaching ₹1,539 crore.
As Ola ventures into the food delivery sector through its partnership with ONDC, it remains to be seen how this move will impact the highly competitive food delivery market in India. With its extensive user base and established presence in the mobility sector, Ola has the potential to challenge the existing leaders and offer customers added convenience in their daily lives.
