Uber eyes B2B logistics push in India through state-backed open commerce network

Uber is coming into India’s rising B2B logistics market by extending its partnership with the Indian government-backed nonprofit that goals to interrupt the domination of Flipkart, the e-commerce large backed by Amazon and Walmart, and widen digital commerce within the South Asian nation.

On Monday, the ride-hailing large introduced it’ll quickly launch its B2B logistics service via the Open Community for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to assist companies on the community entry on-demand logistics via Uber’s 1.4 million driver community, with out disclosing a selected timeline. The service will initially allow meals deliveries for companies working on the open community, however is aimed to be expanded to e-commerce, grocery, pharmacy, and even healthcare logistics.

With its new transfer, Uber shall be accessible as a logistics service supplier on ONDC, competing with the likes of Shiprocket (Temasek and PayPal-backed), Shadowfax (TPG, Qualcomm Ventures, and Eight Roads-backed), current Indian unicorn Porter, and Tiger World-backed LoadShare.

Will probably be a white-label service and can function equally to Uber Direct, launched within the U.S. in 2020, however shall be restricted to companies accessible on the ONDC community, an individual acquainted with the plan instructed TechCrunch.

Uber’s foray into B2B logistics in India follows the corporate’s enlargement within the shopper logistics house by introducing Courier XL in Delhi NCR and Mumbai earlier this month to assist customers ship giant items of as much as 1,653 kilos from the corporate’s rider app by selecting three- and four-wheeler items carriers. The corporate has additionally been providing its common Courier package deal supply service on two-wheelers for a while.

Eyeing logistics generally is smart for Uber because the Indian logistics market is expected to grow 49% to 13.4 trillion Indian rupees ($157 billion) within the monetary yr 2028 from 9 trillion Indian rupees ($105 billion) within the monetary yr 2023, per Motilal Oswal. The transfer will assist Uber get one other enterprise case in India, after seeing a 41.1% year-over-year increase in its working income within the nation to $439 million final yr. Its final yr’s outcomes additionally confirmed collections from rides rising 21.45% YoY of the entire working income, to $94.27 million.

Nonetheless, Uber is going through growing competition within the Indian ride-hailing market from native gamers, together with rising ones like Rapido (WestBridge Capital and Nexus Ventures-backed) and Namma Yatri (Google, Blume Ventures, and Antler-invested). Its diversification into new domains, corresponding to logistics, is predicted to assist the San Francisco-based firm keep India as an vital market.

Alongside its B2B logistics play, Uber has rolled out metro ticketing on its rider app powered by ONDC, primarily based on the memorandum of understanding that the corporate signed with the Indian government-backed nonprofit throughout CEO Dara Khosrowshahi’s go to to India in February 2024. Delhi Metro tickets can be found first via the Uber app, whereas metro tickets in three extra Indian cities will go reside later this yr.

Launched in 2021, ONDC debuted as India’s initiative to spice up digital commerce and permit small retailers to go surfing and attain extra prospects simply. The community additionally expanded to the mobility sector in 2023.

ONDC was initially designed to copy the success of the Indian authorities’s Unified Funds Interface, aiming to drive digital commerce adoption. Nonetheless, it has struggled to realize traction, as its open-network mannequin has but to win over main trade gamers. Recent leadership churn has added to its challenges, with even its former managing director and CEO, T. Koshy, stepping down final month. Retail orders on the community additionally declined by nearly 34% to 4.3 million in April from a peak of 6.5 million in October.

“Uber’s preliminary enablement of metro ticketing and logistics unlocks new potentialities — from seamless multimodal journeys to unifying a fragmented logistics ecosystem,” stated Vibhor Jain, appearing CEO and COO at ONDC, in a ready assertion. “This collaboration lays the inspiration for future improvements from Uber on the community, enhancing worth for customers, companions, and the broader mobility and companies panorama.”