In a bid to increase customer participation on the government-backed e-commerce platform the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), Paytm may soon forego the three per cent commission it charges as a buyer app on the network, The Economic Times (ET) reported on Friday.
This is expected to further bring the prices down on the platform, which is already challenging platforms like Swiggy and Zomato in the food delivery space.
On Thursday, Business Standard reported that ONDC has witnessed a 500 times jump in its daily transactions. The number of retail merchants on the platform has gone up 40-fold. From 50 at the start of the year, the daily order volume has jumped to 25,000.
Paytm was among the first buyer apps to go live on the ONDC. The three per cent commission will be removed on orders fulfilled by the sellers where there are no complaints by the customers, the ET report added. Paytm alone currently accounts for one-third of the total orders on the network.
Moreover, food orders account for around 70 per cent of the total orders on the platform. These increased after reports emerged last week stating that food orders on ONDC were costing much less as compared to Zomato and Swiggy.
ONDC was earlier offering an incentive of up to Rs 75 as a discount for logistics to buyers on every eligible order. However, in a communication to seller-network participants ONDC said that the incentive will be provided only up to a maximum incentive of Rs 2,25,000 per seller-side app per day, and a maximum incentive of Rs 3,750 per seller per day.
It is also offering an incentive of Rs 50 to apps like Paytm and Pincode. A similar discount is also provided to consumers on orders above Rs 100.