ONDC integration for Indian restaurants

ONDC is a government-backed attempt to keep India’s food delivery from being controlled by two private platforms. For restaurants it promises lower commissions and open competition. The integration and analytics work is real, so assess it clearly before you invest.

What is ONDC and why does it matter?

The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is an initiative backed by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). It aims to open up digital commerce through an interoperable network instead of proprietary platforms. For food delivery, it lets a restaurant be found and ordered from through many buyer-side apps with one technical integration.

The structural difference is basic. Swiggy and Zomato are closed, vertically integrated platforms. They own the consumer app, the restaurant technology, the delivery network and the data. Commission, ranking, promotions and data access are all on their terms.

ONDC is a protocol layer, not a platform. It defines how seller-side apps, buyer-side apps and the network talk to each other. A restaurant integrates with a seller app that connects to the network, and then becomes reachable from every buyer app on it.

How does ONDC differ from Swiggy and Zomato in practice?

What about commission?

Lower commission is the strongest pitch. If the platform cut is lower, net revenue per order rises at any volume. But count the full cost of an ONDC order: the seller app subscription, payment processing and any logistics cost the network does not absorb. These can close part of the gap, so work out your own net figure.

Is there lock-in?

On Swiggy and Zomato, visibility depends on one platform’s algorithm. On ONDC, your listing reaches several buyer apps through one integration, so no single platform controls your discovery. If Swiggy ranks you lower because of rejections or ratings, your ONDC access is unaffected.

What about logistics?

Swiggy and Zomato run their own delivery networks. On ONDC, third-party logistics providers deliver. That makes delivery quality harder to guarantee, rider availability can vary by city and hour, and complaints are harder to resolve when responsibility is spread across the stack.

What does ONDC integration need technically?

It is more complex than onboarding with Swiggy or Zomato.

Which seller app do you use?

Restaurants connect through an ONDC-certified seller app. Several serve the food category, including middleware platforms that have added ONDC connectivity. Choosing one with a good track record, solid support and reliable network connections is the most important technology decision. The seller app handles protocol translation, menu syndication, order receipt and confirmation and logistics coordination.

ONDC needs menus in the network’s catalogue format, which differs from Swiggy and Zomato. Most seller apps translate it, but you still have to keep menu data accurate and in step across ONDC and your aggregator listings. New items, price changes and availability toggles must reach every channel, and catalogue updates on ONDC can propagate more slowly.

How do orders reach your POS?

ONDC orders come through the seller app and must reach your POS or order system. Some middleware routes them into the same queue as Swiggy and Zomato orders, so staff need no extra tablet. Chains without centralised aggregator order handling add another source of complexity.

What are ONDC’s limits today?

Lower order volume. Food orders on ONDC buyer apps remain well below Swiggy and Zomato in most cities, partly because users trust and know those apps.
Uneven city coverage. Logistics are stronger in some metros and patchy in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Restaurants in cities such as Indore, Nagpur or Coimbatore may find volumes small.
Gaps in customer experience. With a seller app, a logistics provider and a buyer app involved, fixing a late order or a missing item takes more steps than on a platform that owns the whole relationship.
Catalogue quality. Search on buyer apps depends on item descriptions, tags and photos, and the tools to manage them are less mature than the Swiggy and Zomato partner portals.

What are the analytics challenges?

Swiggy and Zomato, closed as they are, give structured reporting portals and fairly consistent data access. ONDC’s decentralised design leaves data fragmented.

Why is buyer app data fragmented?

When a guest orders through one buyer app, the order reaches the seller app and then your POS. The buyer app keeps its own data on ratings, reviews and repeat behaviour, and that does not reach you through the network. Your view is mostly orders, revenue and basic item data. Rating, retention and promotion data are missing or need manual collection from several partner portals.

How do you compare ONDC with Swiggy and Zomato?

Swiggy and Zomato give gross order value, commission and net payout in structured reports. ONDC seller apps give order-level data with different field names and fee structures. To compare channels on net revenue per order, you need data engineering that converts them into one model.

Should restaurants invest in ONDC now?

It depends on scale, market and the maturity of your tech stack.

When to invest now

Your chain already uses a seller app or middleware that has ONDC built in, so the extra cost of switching it on is low.
You operate in metros where ONDC volumes are meaningful and growing.
You have the analytics to track ONDC separately and judge its return. Investing without that visibility is not advisable.
Your delivery volume is high enough that the commission saving on extra ONDC orders would cover the integration and running cost.

When to wait

Your outlets are mostly in tier-2 and tier-3 cities with limited ONDC logistics.
You have nobody, inside or outside, to run the integration and the ongoing catalogue upkeep.
Your analytics cannot yet measure ONDC on its own, so you could not judge the return.

How does Restrologic handle ONDC in multi-channel analytics?

Our custom software and integrations team builds connectors that bring seller app data into the same model we use for Swiggy and Zomato. That allows a side-by-side view of net revenue per order, average order value, order trends and rejection rates for all three channels, in one analytics view. If you are weighing ONDC, talk to us about building the foundation that makes the decision data-driven.