Uber eyes B2B logistics push in India through state-backed open commerce network
Uber is entering India's growing B2B logistics market by extending its partnership with the Indian government-backed nonprofit that aims to break the domination of the e-commerce duo Amazon and Walmart-backed Flipkart and widen digital commerce in the South Asian nation.
On Monday, the ride-hailing giant announced it will soon launch its B2B logistics service through the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to help businesses on the network access on-demand logistics through Uber's 1.4 million driver network, without disclosing a specific timeline. The service will initially enable food deliveries for businesses operating on the open network, but is aimed to be expanded to e-commerce, grocery, pharmacy, and even healthcare logistics.
With its new move, Uber will be available as a logistics service provider on ONDC, competing with the likes of Shiprocket (Temasek and PayPal-backed), Shadowfax (TPG, Qualcomm Ventures, and Eight Roads-backed), recent Indian unicorn Porter, and Tiger Global-backed LoadShare.
It will be a white-label service and will operate similarly to Uber Direct, launched in the U.S. in 2020, but will be limited to businesses available on the ONDC network, a person familiar with the plan told TechCrunch.
Uber's foray into B2B logistics in India follows the company's expansion in the consumer logistics space by introducing Courier XL in Delhi NCR and Mumbai earlier this month to help users deliver large goods of up to 1,653 pounds from the company's rider app by choosing three- and four-wheeler goods carriers. The company has also been offering its regular Courier package delivery service on two-wheelers for some time.
Eyeing logistics in general makes sense for Uber as the Indian logistics market is expected to grow 49% to 13.4 trillion Indian rupees ($157 billion) in the financial year 2028 from 9 trillion Indian rupees ($105 billion) in the financial year 2023, per Motilal Oswal. The move will help Uber get another business case in India, after seeing a 41.1% year-over-year increase in its operating revenue in the country to $439 million last year. Its last year's results also showed collections from rides growing 21.45% YoY of the total operating revenue, to $94.27 million.
Nonetheless, Uber is facing growing competition in the Indian ride-hailing market from local players, including emerging ones like Rapido (WestBridge Capital and Nexus Ventures-backed) and Namma Yatri (Google, Blume Ventures, and Antler-invested). Its diversification into new domains, such as logistics, is expected to help the San Francisco-based company maintain India as an important market.
Alongside its B2B logistics play, Uber has rolled out metro ticketing on its rider app powered by ONDC, based on the memorandum of understanding that the company signed with the Indian government-backed nonprofit during CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's visit to India in February 2024. Delhi Metro tickets are available first through the Uber app, while metro tickets in three more Indian cities will go live later this year.
Launched in 2021, ONDC debuted as India's initiative to boost digital commerce and allow small retailers to go online and reach more customers easily. The network also expanded to the mobility sector in 2023.
ONDC was initially designed to replicate the success of the Indian government's Unified Payments Interface, aiming to drive digital commerce adoption. However, it has struggled to gain traction, as its open-network model has yet to win over major industry players. Recent leadership churn has added to its challenges, with even its former managing director and CEO, T. Koshy, stepping down last month. Retail orders on the network also declined by nearly 34% to 4.3 million in April from a peak of 6.5 million in October.
"Uber's initial enablement of metro ticketing and logistics unlocks new possibilities — from seamless multimodal journeys to unifying a fragmented logistics ecosystem," said Vibhor Jain, acting CEO and COO at ONDC, in a prepared statement. "This collaboration lays the foundation for future innovations from Uber on the network, enhancing value for users, partners, and the broader mobility and services landscape."
This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/19/uber-eyes-b2b-logistics-push-in-india-through-state-backed-open-commerce-network/
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trending tickers: The latest investor updates on Alphabet, Amazon, Circle, Shell and Whitbread
Shares in Amazon (AMZN) dipped 1% in Wednesday's session, after CEO Andy Jassy warned that the rollout of artificial intelligence (AI) across the tech company would likely result in jobs cuts in the coming years. Jassy said in a memo to employees on Tuesday that this "should change the way our work is done. We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs. Read more: FTSE 100 LIVE: Stocks slip as Bank of England set to hold interest rates amid inflation fears "It's hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company." Meanwhile, Amazon's autonomous driving subsidiary, Zoox, announced on Wednesday that it has opened the first-ever production facility for purpose built robotaxis in the US. The site in California spans 220,000 square feet — the equivalent of three and a half American football fields. In other autonomous vehicle news, Alphabet-owned (GOOG, GOOGL) Waymo is looking to bring its robotaxi service to New York. In a post on social media platform X on Wednesday, Waymo said: "We've applied for a @NYC_DOT permit to drive autonomously with a specialist behind the wheel while we're in the city — a key step to one day serving New Yorkers." Read more: Pound treads water ahead of interest rate decision The company said it was advocating for changes to state law to allow it to bring fully autonomous ride-hailing service the city in the future. Waymo currently operates in parts of San Francisco, Pheonix, Los Angeles and Austin, and has just announced that it is expanding its service in greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. Shares in stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) surged nearly 34% on Wednesday and were up a further 6% in after-hours trading, at the time of writing, though US markets are closed on Thursday for Juneteenth. The jump in shares came after the US Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that would establish a federal framework for stablecoins, which are dollar-backed cryptocurrencies. Shares in crypto exchange platform Coinbase (COIN) — which co-founded the USDC (USDC-USD) stablecoin — also rallied on the news, closing Wednesday's session up more than 16%. Read more: Stocks that are trending today In addition, Coinbase announced on Wednesday the launch of its stablecoin payment stack for commerce platform. It said that the system offers instant, 24/7 USDC stablecoin payments to merchants "globally, securely, and without blockchain complexity". Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Coinbase (COIN) is riding the wave of stablecoin momentum with the launch of a new payment stack aimed at making it easier for shoppers to buy and pay using US dollar-backed crypto. "It's a bold move that puts pressure on traditional payment giants like Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA), whose dominance in the card space is starting to look a little less certain. For crypto enthusiasts, this marks one of the first real-world applications of blockchain tech that could genuinely scale with consumer use." On the London market, rising oil prices continued to drive up the shares of Shell (SHEL.L) and BP (BP.L), as the conflict between Iran and Israel entered its seventh day. According to a Reuters report, Shell CEO Wael Sawan said at a conference in Tokyo on Thursday that the "escalation in tensions over the last few days, in essence, has added to what has already been significant uncertainty in the region." "We're being very careful with, for example, our shipping in the region, just to make sure that we do not take any unnecessary risks," he said. Stocks: Create your watchlist and portfolio Concerns about disruption to supply as a result of the conflict have pushed oil prices higher, with brent crude futures (BZ=F) up 0.4% at $76.97 (£57.33) a barrel on Thursday morning, their highest point since February. Hargreaves Lansdown's Britzman said: "Oil prices are in a holding pattern as markets wait for clarity on possible US involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict. While the White House stayed vague after president Trump met with advisers, any direct action could escalate tensions and threaten vital energy routes like the Strait of Hormuz." Shell shares were up nearly 1% on Thursday morning, while BP rose 1.6%. Shares in Premier Inn-owner Whitbread dipped 2.4% on Thursday morning, following the release of its first quarter results. The hospitality business warned that total sales were down 1% like-for-like in the first quarter. The weakness came from the company's UK accommodation and food and beverage segments, though it saw stronger sales growth in its Germany business. Even so, Whitbread said its five-year plan was on track to deliver incremental profit of at least £300m ($403m) by its 2030 fiscal year, which would generate more than £2bn in shareholder returns. Read more: Bank of England expected to hold interest rates as inflation comes in above target Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: "Normally-reliable Whitbread provided an unpleasant surprise for investors with their poorer update this morning. "Always a useful bellwether of the UK consumer, Whitbread suggests that the economy is still in a tough patch, though the better Germany performance was at least some comfort for investors. "Hopefully the longer-term turnaround will bear fruit in due course; once a star performer, Whitbread's shares have lost direction over the last decade, although the dividend helps to boost their attractiveness." Read more: Bank of England expected to hold interest rates as inflation comes in above target Bitcoin price steady above $105k as Trump mulls Iran strike Eurozone inflation falls below ECB target to 1.9%Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
UPI
21 minutes ago
- UPI
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda reach peace agreement
Captured Democratic Republic of the Congo troops being marched into Rwanda from the border city of Goma by Rwanda Defence Force soldiers in January. File Photo by Moise Niyonzima/EPA-EFE June 19 (UPI) -- Rwanda will sign a U.S.-Qatar-mediated peace agreement with neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, bringing an end to a decades-long armed conflict within days. The two sides' technical delegations initialed the pact Tuesday in Washington, pledging to "disengage and disarm," deal with non-state armed groups, establish a joint security cooperation mechanism and allow refugees and displaced people to return, the State Department said in a statement. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has been heavily involved in bringing the deal to fruition, will witness the official signing by ministers from Rwanda and the DRC at a ceremony in Washington on June 27. "The agreement was developed over three days of constructive dialogue regarding political, security, and economic interests. The agreement includes provisions on respect for territorial integrity and a prohibition of hostilities," the State Department said. Its statement paid tribute Qatar's contribution in helping to close the gap between the two countries' individual initiatives aimed at bringing peace to the region. The deal comes two months after Rubio persuaded the parties to sign a peace framework after the violence escalated to unprecedented levels in January as Rwandan-backed M23 rebels overran large areas of northeastern DRC, displacing tens of thousands of people. The region already was reeling from one of the world's worst humanitarian crises when the rebels launched their offensive, overwhelming government forces and killing U.N. peacekeepers, firing on U.N. humanitarian facilities and sending people fleeing from displacement camps. The BBC said that peace in the region could unlock billions of dollars of investment from the West into the resource-rich country, which has vast reserves of many critical minerals, including rare earths. According to the U.S. Commerce Department, DRC has "substantial" untapped deposits of gold, cobalt and high-grade copper, as well as diamonds and lithium, a key element for powering the green power transition. However, that mineral wealth has been disastrous for the country, historically, and is blamed, at least in part, for the current conflict, with DRC officials accusing Kigali of purposefully destabilizing its neighbor to get its hands on the minerals. The DRC reportedly offered access to its resources to the United States in exchange for assistance in resolving the conflict after it effectively lost control of the east of the country at the beginning of the year. In February, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Rwandan Regional Integration Minister James Kabarebe for backing the M23 along with Lawrence Kanyuka, a senior member of the group, and two of his companies. Condemning M23 human rights abuses, including killings, sexual violence and attacks against civilians, Treasury officials said Kabarebe, a former Rwandan Defense Force general, was responsible for RDF coordination with the M23 and was in charge of revenue generation of both outfits, funded from the DRC's mineral resources. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control alleged Kabarebe managed the cross-border movement of minerals taken from mining sites in the DRC, which subsequently found their way onto the international market after being exported from Rwanda.
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Indiana Fever vs. Golden State Valkyries: How to watch Caitlin Clark's next game of the 2025 WNBA season
Amazon's will once again serve as one of the streaming homes for the WNBA this season. In 2025 Prime Video will stream most Thursday night WNBA games free to all Amazon Prime subscribers, plus the Championship Game of the WNBA Commissioner's Cup in July. On top of Amazon Prime Video, an Amazon Prime subscription includes free shipping, exclusive deals, Amazon Music, a year of free GrubHub+ and more. A standard Amazon Prime subscription is $15 monthly or $139 annually, but discounts are available for students and those on qualified government assistance. You can try Amazon Prime free for 30 days.
