MUMBAI, 17 September 2026: At the Global Fintech Festival 2026, Visa and the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) announced their intent to explore collaboration to enhance tourism discovery and digital commerce experiences in India.
The proposed collaboration seeks to bring together Visa’s expertise in trusted digital commerce and intelligent discovery experiences with ONDC’s open network infrastructure, with the shared objective of simplifying how travellers discover experiences, itineraries and tourism offerings across the country. The exploration aims to make tourism discovery more seamless and accessible while helping travellers connect with destinations, experiences, and local businesses across India.
Speaking at the Global Fintech Festival 2026, Visa Group Country Manager, India & South Asia, Suresh Sethi said: “India has taken a very futuristic approach in terms of how we can digitally connect people, and that is on open networks. When a global Indian is travelling out, or when somebody is coming from overseas, you are really looking for places where you can discover the experiences you can get in India.
“We also see many agents being used to curate and create journeys, helping people discover experiences. India has its own homegrown digital public infrastructure, creating opportunities for digital commerce, and we realise tourism can be a key asset where ONDC can serve as the country’s digital infrastructure for tourism.
“Everything related to tourism, whether discovering experiences, cities or travel itineraries, as well as small and medium businesses in the ecosystem, can potentially be housed in one place. ONDC brings the trust of a homegrown India digital public infrastructure, while Visa brings trusted discovery experiences. Together, the two can create a superlative experience for anyone considering India as a destination. We are delighted to be exploring this opportunity with ONDC.”
As part of this exploration, Visa and ONDC will evaluate opportunities to leverage open network principles, trusted commerce and digital innovation to create richer tourism discovery experiences and support India’s ambition of becoming an even more accessible and attractive destination for travellers. The collaboration will also explore ways to support tourism participation across destinations, regions and local economies through an open and trusted digital ecosystem.
(Source: Visa)
