Google is launching an accelerator programme for the Indian government-backed interoperable commerce network Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), a senior official of the tech major said in a developer conference. "We are launching an accelerator programme for ONDC to support the growth of India's robust network of digital sellers," said Ambarish Kenghe, Vice President of Google Pay.

Google will make its core infrastructure APIs (application programming interfaces) available to ONDC participants, provide retail search and generative artificial intelligence to developers on the network to enhance buyer and seller experiences, and grant $25,000 in cloud credits to startups on ONDC. It is also enabling an integration of ONDC and Google Maps that will enable better serviceability of orders via address descriptors, an India-first experimental feature available in 25 Indian cities, to make it easier to find and communicate addresses using landmarks and area names.

The government hopes to increase e-commerce penetration in the country to 25 percent in the next two years through the network, aiming to reach 900 million buyers and 1.2 million sellers. Additionally, it aim to achieve a gross merchandise value of $48 billion. ONDC is banking on three key pillars to reduce the cost of doing business for everyone, including retailers: dynamic pricing, inventory management, and delivery cost optimisation.

The network piloted a soft launch in five cities Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Shillong, Bhopal and Coimbatore. Since then, ONDC has also started a Beta pilot in Bengaluru and in some Tier-II cities. A report earlier stated that the number of daily retail orders on Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) hit a fresh high of 30,000 in the second week of June, even though the government-backed network has substantially reduced its spending on incentives and discounts.