Uber rolls out ONDC-led B2B logistics play, targets India’s last-mile market

Bengaluru: Ride-hailing firm Uber has entered the business-to-business (B2B) last‑mile logistics market in India with Uber Direct, a white‑label delivery service built on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).

The launch puts Uber in direct competition with enterprise logistics providers such as Shadowfax, Delhivery, Ecom Express, Xpressbees and Shiprocket, which handle deliveries for e-commerce companies and brands.

However unlike these players, which work directly with online and offline merchants (both online and offline sellers depend on last mile logistics), Uber Direct will only fulfil orders for merchants and brands that are registered on ONDC and reached through ONDC‑integrated buyer apps.

The service has gone live in Bengaluru, offering grocery deliveries for Zepto and KPN Farm Fresh, and will soon handle food orders for quick-service restaurant (QSR) brands, including KFC, Burger King, Taco Bell, and Rebel Foods.

Uber India head Prabhjeet Singh told Mint that Uber Direct will initially rely on the company’s two-wheeler fleet, providing bike-taxi drivers with an additional income stream alongside its business-to-business (B2B) parcel service, Uber Courier, and the consumer-facing Uber Bike Taxi category.

From a rider’s point of view, Singh said the ONDC tie-up effectively turns every Uber bike into a multi-use asset, allowing the same driver to switch between ferrying passengers, running consumer courier jobs through Uber Courier, and handling B2B ONDC orders on Uber Direct during the day.

“We are starting with two-wheelers because they are the most efficient and affordable for enterprises. Over time, we may add multiple other form factors based on the different types of packages which the businesses need to sell,” he added.

The launch also comes amid a regulatory crackdown on bike-taxi services in Karnataka, where the state government halted operations in June after questioning their legality under the Motor Vehicles Act. Though bike taxi options later reappeared on apps run by Uber, Rapido and Ola during subsequent court hearings.

Regulatory tides

Uber currently has more than 1.5 million drivers across cars, three-wheelers and two-wheelers in India, though Singh did not share a category-wise split. He also said that Uber Bike is “one of the fastest-growing parts” of the portfolio and that the firm is adding “tens of thousands” of two-wheeler drivers every month.

Uber Direct is not the first attempt to use the Open Network for Digital Commerce for logistics; rival Ola had briefly offered food delivery on ONDC using its driver fleet before recently withdrawing that option from its app, according to recent media reports.

Singh said ONDC is onboarding a wide spectrum of merchants—from large brands to mid-sized sellers—at a time when consumers expect ever-faster delivery across categories beyond grocery, thanks to the rise of quick-commerce platforms such as Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, BigBasket Now and Flipkart Minutes.

According to a March 2025 report by Flipkart and Bain and Co., India's quick-commerce market generated an estimated gross merchandise value (GMV) of about $6–7 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow at a rate of around 40% annually. This GMV is mainly dominated by three players—Swiggy’s Instamart, Zepto, and Zomato-owned Blinkit.

“Many players will still need incremental capacity during peak hours, and a large spectrum of merchants doesn’t want to build captive delivery fleets, and this is where we believe Uber can play a role,” Singh said.

Uber began working closely with ONDC only last year, initially through metro ticketing, which is now live in Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai, and has been extended to Bengaluru. Singh said Uber is “very thoughtful” about entering new lines and “did not want to just announce a new thing and walk away”, waiting instead until there were clear synergies between ONDC’s open rails and Uber’s logistics and transit stack.

Quick commerce surge

The timing also coincides with rapid growth in its two-wheeler network, allowing the company to offer riders multiple gig options, including passenger rides, consumer couriers, B2B logistics, and, in some pilots, data labelling work for Uber’s artificial intelligence tools during off-peak hours, he added.

Uber Direct is already a globally available B2B delivery product, live in several other markets, where it powers same-day and on-demand deliveries directly from merchant channels, such as websites, apps, and call centres.

For example, in North America and Europe, the service is used by supermarkets, pharmacies, big-box retailers and restaurant chains to offer quick deliveries from their own storefronts. However, in India, the B2B offering is being routed exclusively through the ONDC rather than direct merchant integrations.