ONDC Chief T Koshy Steps Down After Three-Year Stint

SUMMARY

Koshy has stepped down from his role as ONDC’s MD and CEO, without specifying the reason for his resignation

The MD and CEO responsibilities have been transitioned to an executive committee with Koshy available to the board over the next three months for advise, ONDC said

The CEO’s exit comes close to the recent exit of ONDC’s chief business officer Shireesh Joshi

T Koshy, the managing director and chief executive officer of the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), has stepped from his role after a three-year stint.

However, the reason behind his resignation has not been disclosed.

“As with any dynamic and evolving organisation, a leadership change is currently underway. Koshy has expressed his desire to step down while helping on with the change. The MD and CEO responsibilities have been transitioned to an executive committee with Koshy available to the board over the next three months for advise,” ONDC said in a statement.

As per Koshy’s LinkedIn profile, he had previously worked with consulting firm Ernst & Young (EY) for more than a decade. Prior to that, he worked with the National Security Depository Limited (NSDL) as executive director for over 14 years.

The CEO’s exit comes close to the recent exit of ONDC’s chief business officer Shireesh Joshi, who served the network for about three and half years.

Prior to that, ONDC’s non-executive chairperson Ram Sewak Sharma also stepped down from his role due to personal reasons in December 2024, having worked only three months with the state-backed network.

Weeks ago, ONDC crossed the 200 Mn transactions, a milestone hit over two years after it started operations in January 2023.

Despite that, it is observed that the target could have been attained earlier, given the market opportunity of rapid expansion post pandemic.

To deepen the awareness of the network and to boost transactions, the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) partnered with ONDC to launch MSME Trade Enablement And Marketing (TEAM) with an allocation of INR 277.35 Cr in January, with an aim to help over 5 Lakh MSMEs with a special focus on women-led businesses get onboard the network.

As of January 3, commerce minister Piyush Goyal posted on social media platform X that more than 7 Lakh sellers and service providers have so far been onboarded on ONDC. He said that these sellers are from over 600 cities and towns, and the network has so far processed more than 15 Cr transactions.

Further, similar to private businesses, it has begun levying a fee of INR 1.5 for every transaction above INR 250 from the start of this year.