The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), India’s ambitious answer to Big Tech e-commerce dominance, may be seeing a rise in awareness—but user satisfaction is lagging, according to a new LocalCircles consumer survey.

While the percentage of e-commerce users who have tried ONDC has grown nearly 20% year-on-year—rising from 12% in 2023-24 to 15% in 2024-25—54% of users still find the platform cumbersome to use, and 35% say customer service is lacking. Despite a growing recognition of better value, with 62% saying ONDC offered lower prices than other platforms, friction in usage and support appears to be undermining ONDC’s mission.

The survey results come at a time when retail orders on ONDC have dropped from 6.5 million in October 2024 to 4.6 million in February 2025, largely due to reduced incentives to sellers and buyer platforms like Paytm and Ola Consumer. ONDC had capped its monthly payouts from ₹3 crore last July to just ₹30 lakh, affecting deep discounting strategies that initially attracted consumers. Additionally, major partners like PhonePe’s Pincode have exited the platform, and Paytm has removed the ONDC icon from its app’s homepage—raising questions about platform stickiness and strategic alignment.

The LocalCircles survey, which collected over 31,000 responses across 319 Indian districts, revealed that ONDC has seen an uptick in perceived value—a notable 62% of users found pricing more competitive than mainstream e-commerce platforms, up from 31% a year earlier. Customer service dissatisfaction has also reduced from 44% to 35%. However, the overall user experience has not kept pace, with a significant rise in users calling the platform difficult to navigate (54% in 2024-25 vs. 44% in 2023-24).

Launched in 2021 by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), ONDC has crossed 200 million total transactions, with over 700,000 registered sellers and presence in 600 cities. It aims to democratise digital commerce by enabling interoperability between buyer and seller apps—a “UPI for e-commerce.”

Yet, unless consumer pain points—particularly UX design and customer service—are addressed, ONDC risks losing momentum despite its structural promise. NRAI (National Restaurant Association of India), initially an enthusiastic participant, is reportedly rethinking its engagement due to platform instability.