PhonePe, a Walmart-owned fintech firm, has announced the introduction of ‘Pincode,’ an e-commerce consumer app that would be integrated into India’s Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) framework.
- The Pincode app will be initially made available in Bengaluru (Karnataka) in six major categories, including groceries, food, pharmaceuticals, electronics, home decor, and fashion.
- It will then be made available in other cities once it achieves a transaction volume of about 10,000 per day.
Walmart is a retail company based in the United States (US).
Note: Pincode is PhonePe’s second consumer app in around seven years.
About ‘Pincode’:
i.Pincode is a hyperlocal commerce app that is available on Google Play and the App Store.
ii.Pincode is centered on the ONDC network, which fosters demand for merchants to be digitized by multiple seller platforms inclusively while fostering new prospects for growth and innovation at scale.
- It will connect consumers with neighbourhood stores, providing the convenience of online ordering, discounts, and instant refunds and returns.
iii.The ‘Pincode’ app would encourage local merchants and sellers, to offer both national brands and locally manufactured goods.
Background
- PhonePe’s foray into online commerce is not new; as of August 2022, PhonePe earmarked up to USD 15 million for its ONDC debut, with the funds to be deployed over 18-month.
- PhonePe currently competes in the e-commerce industry with ‘Switch’ and offers services similar to those of its main rival, Paytm.
About PhonePe:
i.PhonePe is India’s largest payments app, with 450 million registered users and 35 million offline merchants distributed across the country, covering 99% of pin codes.
ii.The company is raising USD 1 billion in funding at a pre-money valuation of USD 12 billion, and it has already raised USD 650 million from several global investors.
iii.PhonePe raised around USD 350 million in the first tranche of the USD 1 billion financing in January 2023 from General Atlantic, Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, and TVS Capital Funds.
iv.PhonePe, which separated from Walmart-backed e-commerce giant Flipkart earlier this year, has relocated its headquarters from Singapore to India.
- Co-Founder & CEO – Sameer Nigam
- Founded – 2015 (entered into financial services in 2017)
- Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra
Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)
i.ONDC is a Section 8 company established by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) with the Quality Council of India and Protean eGov Technologies Limited as initial promoters.
- Objective: To create a framework that democratizes digital commerce with a focus on assisting small retailers and merchants to gain access to the networks or technology provided by major e-commerce players like Flipkart and Amazon.
ii.It is a platform built on an open protocol that will facilitate local commerce in the areas of mobility, grocery, food order and delivery, hotel booking, and travel.
Click here for information about the network members on ONDC.
Recent Related News:
In January 2023, the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Meesho, an e-commerce platform owned by Bengaluru (Karnataka)-based Fashnear Technologies Private Limited, to drive digital inclusion of all women registered under State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLMs) and enable them to sell online.
About Open Network Digital Commerce (ONDC):
CEO – Thampy Koshi
Established – 2021
