PhonePe Launches eCommerce App Built on India’s ONDC Network

Payments platform PhonePe has launched an eCommerce app built on India’s ONDC network.

The new Pincode app launched Tuesday (April 4) in Bengalaru and will expand to other cities soon, PhonePe said in a Tuesday press release.

The app focuses on hyperlocal commerce and aims to serve the entire local commerce ecosystem, including national brands; local manufacturers; microbusinesses and small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs); and farmers, according to the release.

It currently offers groceries, pharmaceuticals, electronics and home décor. More categories will be added within days, the release said.

“Pincode is a brand-new shopping app and offers a revolutionary new approach to eCommerce, which puts all the local stores and sellers at the heart of the digital shopping growth story,” PhonePe CEO and founder Sameer Nigam said in the release.

The app is built on India’s government-backed eCommerce platform called the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), which was established to push back on the dominance of U.S.-based eCommerce giants like Amazon and Walmart.

ONDC enables buyers and sellers to connect and transact with one another regardless of app — with particular emphasis on smaller businesses — and allows any app that is registered with the network to see products from several sellers at once.

“Pincode is built on the ONDC network, which allows us to generate demand for merchants digitized by various seller platforms in an inclusive manner, while creating new opportunities for growth and driving innovation at scale,” Nigam said in the release.

The launch of Pincode comes about two weeks after PhonePe raised $200 million with the help of former parent company Walmart.

That funding, which was announced March 17, followed a round a month earlier that raised $100 million and valued PhonePe at $12 billion. It maintained that value after the latest round.

The company said Feb. 14 that the funding will allow it to launch new services, including lending, stock brokering and eCommerce via ONDC.

Three months earlier, in December, Nigam alluded to PhonePe’s plans to develop a super app.

“We are looking forward to the next phase of our growth as we invest in new businesses — like insurance, wealth management and lending, while also enabling the next wave of growth for UPI payments in India,” Nigam said at the time. “This will help propel our vision to provide billions of Indians with financial inclusion.”

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