Generative AI is set to significantly transform India’s digital public infrastructure.
Google-backed Plotch.ai is currently working with ONDC to build AI infrastructure and simplify e-commerce for consumers. Recently, the company developed an AI-powered conversational commerce app featuring multilingual, voice-enabled semantic search and robust image search capabilities.
ONDC is an open protocol network that aims to democratise digital commerce by creating an interoperable, open platform where buyers and sellers can transact regardless of the apps they use. It’s a platform to democratise e-commerce in India.
According to recent reports, ONDC has captured approximately 3% of the food-order volumes from Swiggy and Zomato and achieved 68 million transactions since its inception. It is expected to reach 100 million transactions by Diwali 2024.
“Multilingual voice-based conversational commerce is one piece of the AI that we’re building,” said Manoj Gupta, the founder of Plotch.ai, in an exclusive interview with AIM. “For instance, if you’re looking to buy a saree, jewellery, or a T-shirt and want to find the most affordable options, you can simply ask the AI, and it will sort them for you,” he explained.
Manoj and Monica Gupta founded Plotch.AI in 2020. They are also the founders of Craftsvilla.com, an online marketplace for ethnic products in India.
They are also working on improving the product catalogue using generative AI. “We will enhance the product names, descriptions, and product metadata using generative AI,” he said.
Moreover, the company is planning to introduce image generation capabilities. Following this, they aim to develop a tool that will categorise customers based on their order value. “For example, distinguishing between high-repeat customers and fraudulent ones,” explained Gupta.
Additionally, they are building AI-based recommendation engines to show customers the most relevant products. Another area where the company plans to integrate AI is in optimising RTO (return to origin).
Google Loves India
Gupta told AIM that the startup is backed by Google and is working very closely with them. “We are using Google’s AI tech stack, which includes their large language model, Gemini. We have utilised this foundational model and custom-trained it specifically for Indian e-commerce,” he said.
“We have been doing the custom training and have also incorporated vector search using vector databases. Additionally, we have implemented semantic caching. This broadly outlines our technology stack, which also includes Python for coding, MySQL for the database, and Nginx for the web server,” he explained.
Gupta said that the company is raising about $5 million. The first round was led by Antler, and the second was led by Venture Catalyst.
“We are very excited about AI and plan to invest 50% of our efforts into it. Even with our $5 million raise, half of that will go into building AI infrastructure directly on top of the ONDC framework,” said Gupta
Last year, Google partnered with ONDC and announced plans to integrate generative AI capabilities into their tech stack. “Our collaboration creates an opportunity for organisations India-wide to reach larger audiences and grow their businesses, ultimately transforming digital commerce adoption in the country,” said Thomas Kurian, the CEO of Google Cloud.
Google recently invested in Moving Tech, the parent company of Namma Yatri, and is planning to build a ‘GPay for travel’ in India. Interestingly, Namma Yatri has also joined the ONDC network. It is one of the first mobility services to be integrated into ONDC, which was initially focused on other e-commerce segments such as groceries and food delivery.
“ONDC started two years ago. We can always look for a booster shot for ONDC, some trigger to create a hockey stick growth curve. It is still in infancy; we should let it grow,” said Pramod Varma, former chief architect of Aadhaar, in an interaction with AIM, adding that today ONDC has 10 million transactions, and by 2030, it could hit the 100-million mark.
Comparing UPI with ONDC, he said that UPI was narrower in purpose. “All it had to do was move money and it got extra support from the readiness of the ecosystem, such as PhonePe and Google Pay.”
He explained that ONDC has a much broader purpose as it includes taxi booking like Namma Yatri, metro ticketing, grocery commerce, and food delivery. He added that the supply chain of ONDC is much more complex than that of banks.
“Much of our economic value chain is fragmented; someone has to bring it together. ONDC is doing that. Over time, we will see more and more transactions happening,” he said.
What Does Plotch.ai Offer?
Plotch.ai has a suite of products designed to facilitate seamless integration of customers into the ONDC ecosystem.
“We essentially act as the gateway for customers to connect to ONDC,” said Gupta. “ONDC is a collection of domains, including retail, logistics, and fintech. We initially started with the retail domain,” he added.
Gupta said that some of the prominent customers of Plotch.ai are Meesho, IDFC Bank, Paytm, and Craftsvilla. He also said that one of the major challenges they face is connecting their customers’ systems to the network, as each system has its own CRM or ERP.
“Ensuring that each party can talk to another party seamlessly is also a challenge,” Gupta said, adding that this issue has reduced significantly over the past year.
One of the products the company offers is NodeApp, a full-stack application that ensures smooth operation of both buyer and seller apps within the ONDC network.
On the other hand, NodePay simplifies node-to-node network payments, guaranteeing efficient financial transactions between buyers and sellers. NodeDesk provides an ONDC-enabled CRM solution for managing customer grievances and ticketing.
NodeBox integrates voice AI into ONDC, allowing users in smaller cities and villages to buy and sell using voice commands in multiple languages. “India is going to be a use case capital of AI. We’ll be very big users of AI, and we believe that AI can significantly help in the expansion of the ONDC Network,” concluded Gupta.
