DBS Bank India on Monday announced its partnership with Gofrugal Technologies Pvt. Ltd., a seller-centric platform offering Omnichannel ERP solutions. The company empowers enterprise customers, including micro, small and medium enterprises and retail merchants, to adopt Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and enables them to expand their digital commerce footprint.

The partnership furthers DBS Bank India's commitment to reimagining SME banking through innovation and providing digital solutions beyond traditional banking. It also reaffirms the bank's focus on serving MSMEs and SMEs profitably while finding new ways to deliver better service.

ONDC, an initiative by the Government of India, is a platform based on an open protocol that will enable local commerce across mobility, grocery, food order and delivery, hotel booking and travel etc. The government launched ONDC in April as an alternative to global e-commerce giants that currently enjoy the bulk of the market share in India. The platform aims to create new opportunities by offering MSMEs a level playing field.

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ONDC will further digital penetration in the country and foster innovation, particularly in the start-up ecosystem. ONDC is expected to drive the Gross Merchandise Value of India from Rs 4.5 lakh crore to Rs 7.5 lakh crore. Gofrugal Technologies acts as one of its technology partners and is a front-runner in the field of ERP for onboarding seller apps by digitising their store, inventory, and operations.

Through this partnership, DBS Bank India is integrating its digital solutions with Gofrugal Technologies to help small businesses catalogue their products quickly and expand their sales channels via ONDC.

DBS Bank India aims to offer its robust digital platforms and straight-through processing to improve the servicing of loans. It seeks to reimagine the entire customer journey to shorten the lending cycle. Looking ahead, the bank will expand its digital solutions beyond traditional banking, such as loans and cater to the other requirements of SMEs and MSMEs, such as the ability to efficiently handle payments, payroll, cash management, insurance, and third-party products.

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The bank also announced the launch of a new grant programme to support SMEs looking to kickstart their transition towards becoming more sustainable businesses.