Ola Cabs has expanded its partnership with Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to offer last-mile small box logistics services to buyers and sellers, people aware of the matter said. The services are scheduled to go live across India from January.

Through the partnership with ONDC, Ola Cabs will deploy its e-bike taxis as last-mile delivery agents in categories like medicines, clothing, groceries, etc., said a person aware of the developments.

The partnership could also expand beyond logistics and offer mobility services through ONDC, the person said.

The development comes after Ola and Ola Electric founder Bhavish Agarwal posted a photo with newly appointed CEO Hemant Bakshi, who recently joined the company after a 15-year stint at Unilever, and the ONDC CEO Thomas Koshy in one of the company's offices.

“ONDC is the future of commerce in India and we are firmly committed to it!” reads the message on X (formerly Twitter).

The idea is to expand the use of e-bikes for services such as taxis, parcel delivery and food delivery, to enable last-mile and intra-city delivery of small couriers across India. As things stand, the company hopes to cut the cost of delivering small packages in the last mile of the country by half, according to people familiar with the situation.

The company, which will first test the services in select cities where Ola e-bike and e-parcel are already active, will eventually look to expand to large couriers and bring the capability to other vehicles as well, sources added.