PhonePe Launches E-Commerce App Built On Top Of ONDC

PhonePe Pvt. today launched Pincode, a hyperlocal e-commerce discovery platform built on top of the government-backed Open Network For Digital Commerce (ONDC).

Founder and Chief Executive Officer Sameer Nigam unveiled the app, which is currently live only for customers in Bengaluru and will launch to other cities later.

"The Pincode app will promote local shopkeepers and sellers and hopes to digitally connect each city's consumers with all their neighborhood stores that they usually buy from offline, with the convenience of online ordering, great discounts and instant refunds and returns," the company said in a press note.

"Pincode is built on the ONDC network, which allows us to generate demand for merchants digitized by various seller platforms in an inclusive manner," Nigam said. He added that all sellers will be listed democratically on the platform.

"All stores will be listed on the basis of user generated content. We're not here to decide who the winner is. We want to enable choices for the consumer. We will also not be touching pricing at all," he added.

Pincode is only the second consumer-facing app built by PhonePe.

Nigam further added that they will never compete with anyone in the ecosystem. "We will never open a cloud kitchen, a dark store or a logistics company. We won't be a bank, or an NBFC. We will play our own role in the ecosystem," he said.

Nigam set a target to get to one lakh orders a day on the Pincode app by December. "If we get there, we'll go hammer and tongs and expand across the country."

PhonePe, currently valued at about $12 billion, is in the middle of $1 billion fundraising effort. It has raised about $650 million of the sum so far. Apart from ONDC-based shopping, it has also expressed intent to scale new businesses like insurance, wealth management, lending, stockbroking and account aggregators.

PhonePe has also changed its domicile to India and fully separated from Flipkart—moves that are synonymous with a company looking to list in India.

PhonePe's IPO is slated to take place 18 to 24 months after the completion of the current round of fund raising, according to a December 2022 report by Bloomberg.