The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), a not-for-profit initiative by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, started with the well-intentioned objective of offering an open-source inclusive ecosystem for small and medium retailers who lack the wherewithal to engage with dominant app-based platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, or Zomato. As a means of offering sellers and buyers a level playing field to Big Commerce, especially in small towns, the ONDC can be seen as a welcome expansion of the competitive landscape of e-commerce, which currently has just a 6 per cent penetration in India. If the excitement on social media is any indication, food and grocery retailers, the two items that started out as pilot projects on the ONDC last year, offer significant discounts on food items ordered via the ONDC compared with Swiggy and Zomato, suggesting the creation of a viable alternative to these private equity/venture capital-backed giants. Even so, h