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Digihaat is a buyer app on the ONDC network, not the network itself — a distinction that matters the moment an order goes wrong. ONDC, the Open Network for Digital Commerce, was incorporated as a Section 8 non-profit in December 2021 out of a DPIIT initiative, with the Quality Council of India and Protean eGov Technologies as founding members and SBI, ICICI, HDFC, NSDL, NABARD, SIDBI, Zoho and Paytm among its shareholders. It is a protocol rather than a shop: sellers list through seller apps, buyers browse through buyer apps, and the two sides interoperate. Digihaat is ONDC's own attempt at a buyer app, and it is operated by Nirmit Bharat, a wholly-owned ONDC subsidiary incorporated on 15 October 2024 (CIN U63999DL2024NPL437730, RoC-Delhi) at 3rd Floor, 7/6, August Kranti Marg, Siri Fort Institutional Area, New Delhi 110049. The app went live in October 2024 and grew from 53 orders in November 2024 to more than 3 lakh cumulative orders by 14 April 2025, across roughly 2 lakh users and 4,727 sellers — mostly MSMEs, artisans and Farmer Producer Organisations — serving 2,400-plus pincodes. Groceries carried that volume with 2.7 lakh orders, far ahead of restaurant food at 35,759 and beauty at 2,250. Google Play now shows 10L+ downloads and a 30 July 2026 update, and Nirmit Bharat migrated the platform to Google Cloud in early 2026. Categories on offer are groceries, restaurant food, beauty and personal care, electronics and home decor. The rating deserves a second look. Play shows 4.5 from about 14.4K reviews, but the histogram is 12,064 five-star against 1,494 one-star, with only about 816 ratings in between — a tenth of everyone who rated it gave it the lowest possible score. The App Store, a smaller sample, shows 3.9 from 438 ratings. Across both stores the recurring failures are the same: orders auto-cancelled after payment, food deliveries running past two hours, live tracking that never updates, and support chats closed without a resolution. Some of that is structural rather than careless. On ONDC the buyer app only coordinates — ONDC's own complaints policy puts responsibility for resolving a complaint on the seller and the seller app — and Digihaat's terms state that cancellations, returns and refunds follow each individual seller's policy. A bad order can therefore involve three parties before ONDC's escalation route opens (available if the buyer app does not acknowledge within 48 hours or resolve within 30 days). The Play listing's promise of "no platform fees, no hidden charges" also sits awkwardly beside terms that reserve Nirmit Bharat's right to charge a convenience fee on transactions, and beside delivery charges that reviewers say run high on restaurant orders.
4.4/5 on Google Play Store, India locale (gl=IN): 4.42 from 15,229 ratings. App Store India rates it 3.9 from 445. · Last verified 2026-09-03
No. ONDC is the network; Digihaat is one app that shops on it. ONDC publishes an open protocol so that seller apps and buyer apps can interoperate — a seller lists once through a seller app and becomes visible to every buyer app on the network. Digihaat is a buyer app, launched in October 2024 by Nirmit Bharat, a wholly-owned ONDC subsidiary, partly to demonstrate what the network can do. Dozens of other buyer apps reach the same sellers. So when a Digihaat order goes wrong, the seller behind it is usually not a Digihaat seller at all — it is an ONDC seller reached through somebody else's seller app.
It is government-initiated but not government-owned, and the difference is worth knowing. ONDC came out of an initiative of DPIIT under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and was incorporated as a Section 8 non-profit in December 2021, with the Quality Council of India and Protean eGov Technologies as founding members and SBI, ICICI, HDFC, NSDL, NABARD, SIDBI, Zoho and Paytm among its shareholders. Digihaat itself is operated by Nirmit Bharat, incorporated on 15 October 2024 (CIN U63999DL2024NPL437730, RoC-Delhi), which the MCA record classifies as a non-government company. The Play Store listing's line "Backed by the Government of India" is a marketing claim about that lineage, not a statement that a ministry runs the app or stands behind your order.
It is a real, registered entity — Nirmit Bharat, CIN U63999DL2024NPL437730, registered at 3rd Floor, 7/6, August Kranti Marg, Siri Fort Institutional Area, New Delhi 110049, with a named grievance officer (Aditi Rastogi) published in its terms. The reviews calling it fake are about undelivered orders, not about a fraudulent company: the recurring pattern is an order marked delivered that never arrived, or an order cancelled after payment with the refund pending. That is a fulfilment and grievance-handling failure, which is a genuine reason to be careful, but it is not the same as a fake app.
The app is free to download and there is no subscription. Its store listing goes further and claims no platform fees and no hidden charges. Two caveats sit against that. Digihaat's own terms and conditions reserve Nirmit Bharat's right to charge a convenience fee on transactions, so the absence of a fee is a current choice rather than a commitment. And delivery is charged separately by whoever fulfils the order — reviewers report ₹100-150 on restaurant orders where the outlet is 2-4 km away, which is the most common complaint about cost.
Automatic cancellation after payment is the most repeated complaint in App Store reviews through 2026, usually on restaurant food, and often after a long wait with tracking that never updates. Complain to Digihaat first — under ONDC's grievance policy the buyer app must acknowledge and contact the seller within 48 hours, and the whole complaint has to be resolved within 30 days. But the responsibility for actually resolving it sits with the seller and the seller app; the buyer app only coordinates. If Digihaat does not acknowledge within 48 hours, or the complaint stays open past 30 days, you can escalate to ONDC itself, and after that to an Online Dispute Resolution provider or a consumer court.
Coverage was 2,400-plus pincodes as of April 2025, spanning metros and tier 2-3 towns, and ONDC as a whole reported 616+ cities live as of May 2025. Coverage is not the same as availability, though: which stores you actually see depends on which sellers near you are live on the network, and 'store not available' is a recurring complaint even inside serviced pincodes. Restaurant food in particular depends on delivery partners being available at that moment, which reviewers say they often are not. Install it and check your pincode against the categories you care about rather than assuming the whole catalogue is reachable.
Hand-picked videos to help you get started — tutorials, demos, and reviews.
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Tata Group
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Flipkart Internet Pvt Ltd
Flipkart — the Indian Amazon alternative and India's largest online marketplace, founded in 2007 by Sachin and Binny Bansal in Bengaluru and now ~84% owned by Walmart. 450M+ registered users with 5.5M daily orders across electronics, fashion, groceries, and furniture. Big Billion Days routinely clocks $1B+ GMV. Flipkart Plus members get free delivery, early sale access, and SuperCoins. Free for buyers; revenue from seller commissions. Best for price-conscious Indian shoppers.
Clues Network
ShopClues is a Gurugram-based value-focused online marketplace founded in 2011 for tier-2 and tier-3 city shoppers. Specialises in unbranded and budget goods — kitchenware, home essentials, fashion basics, and electronics — sold by thousands of small Indian sellers. Sunday Flea Market and daily deals built its viral reputation. COD across India, free for buyers, no subscription. Acquired by Singapore's Qoo10 in 2019. Best for extreme bargain hunters.
Lightbooks Technologies
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