On Friday, e-commerce platform Amazon said to join the government’s open source, not-for-profit, e-commerce podium Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).

For now, Amazon’s logistics system, i.e. from pickup to delivery and SmartCommerce services, will initially be the two arms to participate with ONDC. The two platforms, however, will “endure travelling other potential opportunities for stouter addition between the two in future”, Amazon mentioned in a statement.

SmartCommerce is an Amazon Web Services-powered group of software-as-a-service (SaaS) products that allows MSMEs to construct and scale their business, especially proving helpful for new merchants wanting to catch on to ONDC.

The announcement came after ONDC CEO T Koshy said Amazon was preparing to integrate with the platform in October.

Manish Tiwary, country manager of India consumer business, Amazon India, said, “Amazon’s dream and assurance for India are closely associated with ONDC’s purposes of digitally permitting small businesses and providing suitability and choice to customers across the nation.” Rival Flipkart has previously put its logistics arm, eKart, on ONDC.

Rival Flipkart has already put its logistics arm eKart, on ONDC. In January, ONDC transported 50-60 orders daily and had an average order value (AOV) of Rs 200-300, per the media report. It said the AOV would scramble higher as newer groups like fashion, beauty and personal care, and electronics are accessible.

Giants MNCs like Reliance, Microsoft, Snapdeal and Hindustan Unilever have also said they will join ONDC to democratise e-commerce by giving sellers access to more shoppers’ data. At the same time, Amazon and Flipkart won’t allow industry insiders to say the same.

Further, the ONDC has climbed its beta stage contributions to about 85 cities since September 30 and has companies like Paytm, Shiprocket, and Delhivery fulfilling orders on the network.

ONDC started by offering low-priced items like groceries and restaurant food but is expanding the system to reach some 900 million buyers and sign up 1.2 million sellers on the shared network within the next five years. The targets will also enable ONDC to increase e-commerce penetration in India from around 5% currently to 25% by 2025, Koshy said.