Restaurant body NRAI takes Rapido route, drops ONDC from the menu

Business Standard

30-04-2025

In a significant pivot, the National Restaurant Association of India has halted onboarding member restaurants to the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), citing leadership churn and sluggish developments with the government-backed e-commerce platform. Instead, the industry body is now exploring a partnership with mobility startup Rapido, signalling a potential shift in its bid to challenge the food aggregator duopoly — Zomato and Swiggy, top sources told Business Standard.
"NRAI has currently paused the conversation with ONDC due to leadership change and also because the pace of conversation could have been quicker. The restaurant industry needs an alternative to address several challenges and the ONDC ecosystem is not as frictionless and seamless. The convenience of usage is still not there, and thus people will find it difficult to move away from Zomato and Swiggy,' said a source in the know.
Another industry source also confirmed that Rapido is working on a commission-friendly model and NRAI is in touch with them.
Initially launched as a ride-hailing platform, Rapido is eyeing entry into food delivery to challenge the dominance of Swiggy and Zomato. The platform is in continuous discussions with various restaurants and is reportedly planning to start a pilot in Bengaluru.
The second source also confirmed that while other options are being considered, the misalignment with new leadership at ONDC is the prime reason for the shift. "At ONDC, the leadership with whom NRAI was working very closely has undergone change. Now, NRAI has to see whether there is a vision alignment with the new leadership," the source said. There have been a series of top-level exits at ONDC. The platform's founding managing director and chief executive officer Thampy Koshy, chief business officer Shireesh Joshi, and non-executive chairperson R S Sharma have stepped down.
"A lot of people don't know about ONDC. There is a lot of confusion in the consumer's mind between seller and buyer apps. ONDC is also not in a position to have skin in the game," the second source added.
According to a recent survey by LocalCircles, 54 per cent (out of a sample size of 31,000) found the ONDC platform cumbersome, and 35 per cent found the customer service lacking. From a peak of 6.5 million in October 2024, retail orders on ONDC fell to 4.6 million in February this year, the report added.
"They (ONDC) are growing a little slowly. There is still time for them to become a significant player. Restaurants largely struggle with end-to-end deliveries, having their own fleet, and this process needs to be outsourced. We need a player who can take responsibility from picking the order to delivering it to the customer," the third source said, mentioning that a few new players in the market may fill the logistics gap.
As for ONDC, in January 2025, the NRAI had decided to step up gas on the platform to challenge Zomato and Swiggy's standalone apps — Bistro and Snacc — for 10-minute food delivery. The body had accused Zomato and Swiggy of masking consumer data, engaging in private labelling, breaching the trust of restaurant partners, and abusing their market position.
In addition, NRAI had decided to approach the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to take legal action against private labelling by Zomato and Swiggy. At present, the body is consulting with its legal team and is simultaneously engaging in discussions with food delivery platforms.