ONDC’s COO becomes CEO
Vibhor Jain, previously ONDC’s chief operating officer, has stepped up to become the organisation’s chief executive as it shifts focus toward execution and wider network adoption. The appointment signals ONDC’s next phase is concentrating on practical rollout and ecosystem expansion. (People Matters)
Open Network for Digital Commerce has named Vibhor Jain its managing director and chief executive officer, making permanent the leadership role he had held on an interim basis since last year. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) The appointment took effect on April 7, 2026. Jain had been ONDC’s chief operating officer before becoming acting chief executive after founding chief Thampy Koshy stepped down in April 2025. (peoplematters.in) (entrepreneur.com) Open Network for Digital Commerce is the Indian government-backed network that lets buyers, sellers, logistics firms, and apps transact across a shared protocol instead of staying inside one marketplace. ONDC says the model is meant to make online commerce interoperable, so a seller on one app can be discovered by a buyer on another. (ondc.org 1) (ondc.org 2) Jain’s promotion lands after a year of leadership turnover and while ONDC is trying to move from rollout to steadier execution. The organisation has described him publicly as acting chief executive, and recent coverage tied his elevation to a push to strengthen operations and widen the ecosystem across sectors. (ondc.org) (bwpeople.in) The network is also under pressure to show that adoption can translate into a durable business. Economic Times reported ONDC’s revenue rose to Rs 33.41 crore in fiscal year 2025 from Rs 14.7 crore a year earlier, while net loss narrowed to Rs 147.13 crore from Rs 195.6 crore. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) Adoption has grown fast, even as the mix of activity has shifted across categories. YourStory reported in March 2025 that ONDC had crossed 200 million transactions, with food and beverages, grocery, retail, logistics, mobility, and financial services helping drive the total. (yourstory.com) ONDC has kept using incentives to support that growth. In September 2025, Economic Times reported the network rolled out support schemes for logistics, food and beverage, grocery, and direct-to-consumer participants, including per-order payouts and monthly caps for some buyer apps. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) Jain now takes over with the job of turning an open-network experiment into a more routine piece of India’s digital commerce infrastructure. The change gives ONDC a full-time chief executive again as it tries to convert scale, incentives, and government backing into repeat use across the network. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) (ondc.org)
