In a significant leadership transition, Deepinder Goyal has announced his decision to step down as the group chief executive officer (CEO) of Eternal Limited, the parent company of food delivery platform Zomato and quick commerce firm Blinkit. The change, effective from the close of business on 1 February 2026, will see Albinder Singh Dhindsa, currently the CEO of Blinkit, assume the role of group CEO.
The announcement came alongside the company's third-quarter financial results for FY25-26 which showed consolidated net profit surging 73% y-o-y (year-on-year) to ₹102 crore, compared to ₹59 crore in the corresponding period last year.
In a detailed letter to shareholders, Mr Goyal explained that his decision stems from a desire to explore new high-risk ideas that fall outside the strategic scope of a public company like Eternal. He emphasised that, while he personally believes he has the bandwidth to continue his current responsibilities and pursue new ventures simultaneously, the expectations and legal requirements of being a CEO of a public company in India demand singular focus.
Mr Goyal clarified that this is not a departure from the company he has spent 18 years building. Subject to shareholder approval, he will remain on the board of directors as vice-chairman, continuing his involvement in long-term strategy, culture, leadership development, and ethics and governance. However, the centre of gravity for day-to-day operating decisions and business priorities will shift to Mr Dhindsa.
The founder emphasised that his financial future remains meaningfully tied to Eternal, and his incentives stay aligned with long-term shareholder value creation. In a gesture demonstrating commitment to the company's future leadership development, all of Mr Goyal's unvested employee stock options will revert to the ESOP pool, ensuring wealth-creation opportunities for the next generation of leaders without incremental shareholder dilution.
Albinder Singh Dhindsa brings a proven track record to his new role as group CEO. Before founding Blinkit, Mr Dhindsa worked as head of international expansion at Zomato, where he was responsible for the company's global expansion mandate. He co-founded Blinkit in 2013 and has since led its transformation into India's leading quick commerce platform.
A graduate with a Bachelor of Technology degree in Civil Engineering from IIT Delhi, Mr Dhindsa also holds an MBA from Columbia University, New York. Mr Goyal praised Mr Dhindsa's execution abilities in his letter to shareholders, stating that Blinkit's journey from acquisition to breakeven happened under his leadership and that he has the DNA of a battle-hardened founder with execution capabilities that far exceed his own.
The decentralised structure of Eternal, where each business has a CEO with full ownership and autonomy, will continue unchanged, which management believes will help Mr Dhindsa execute his expanded responsibilities effectively while keeping Blinkit as his top priority.
In his letter to shareholders, mr Goyal articulated an ambitious vision for Eternal's future. He expressed his desire for the company to become India's most valuable company, serve a billion customers, create the most positive impact on society and be the source of livelihoods for millions of Indians. He emphasised that none of these goals changes with the leadership transition.
Mr Goyal characterised the change as one of title rather than commitment towards outcomes, stating that Eternal remains his life's work. He believes the company will not lose focus or momentum through this change but rather is reinforcing its institutional strength. The transition, he explained, allows Eternal to remain sharply focused on its core business, while giving him the flexibility to explore high-risk ideas that sit outside the company's strategic scope without compromising its priorities.
Eternal's consolidated revenue from operations skyrocketed 202% y-o-y to ₹16,315 crore from ₹5,405 crore. The standout performance was largely attributed to Blinkit, which achieved a significant milestone by turning adjusted EBITDA positive for the first time on a quarterly basis, posting a profit of ₹4 crore. This marked a dramatic improvement from a loss of ₹156 crore in the previous quarter. The quick commerce platform's net order value surged 121% y-o-y to ₹13,300 crore, though the quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) growth of 14% was tempered by GST (goods and services tax) changes and seasonal factors.
Mr Goyal noted in the shareholder letter that the achievement of EBITDA breakeven was not the result of a last-minute cost-cutting exercise but rather a consequence of disciplined focus on serving customers better, building supply chain depth and being selective about which orders to pursue. This gives him confidence in the fundamental strength of the business model.
The food delivery segment demonstrated encouraging signs of growth recovery, with net order value (NOV) increasing 16.6% y-o-y to ₹9,846 crore, up from 13.8% growth in the previous quarter.
Under Mr Dhindsa's leadership, Blinkit has transformed from a struggling acquisition to a profitable operation. It added 211 net new stores during the quarter, bringing the total store count to 2,027 as of the end of December 2025. While this fell approximately 70 stores short of the guidance of 2,100 stores, management attributed the shortfall to temporary factors including GRAP pollution-related restrictions in Delhi NCR that slowed construction, and operational constraints during the Diwali festive period when teams focused on managing record order volumes rather than opening new stores.
Mr Dhindsa explained that the margin improvement to breakeven came from several factors including supply chain cost efficiencies, a favorable shift towards long-tail categories and operating leverage. Notably, this was achieved despite elevated competitive intensity over recent months. The shift to own inventory continued to be margin accretive, with about 90% of NOV now on the company's own inventory, having already banked more than half of the expected one percentage point margin accretion from this change.
The company addressed concerns about competitive intensity, noting that some players have lowered minimum order values, offered free deliveries, and pursued everyday low pricing strategies. However, management stated there has been no noticeable impact of recent competitive tactics on business quality, customers, or NOV market share. They emphasised their belief that sustainable quick commerce businesses cannot be built on heavy discounting, though acknowledged they would need to respond if competitors' tactics begin meaningfully affecting their business.
The current guidance of 3,000 stores by March 2027 assumes continued irrational competitive intensity. However, if competition moderates in the near term, the company indicated it would aim for 3,500 to 4,000 stores by March 2027 which would keep NOV growth north of 100% year-on-year. Management explained that in periods of irrational competitive intensity, accelerating store count or assortment becomes counterproductive as customer acquisition remains anchored in a narrower set of discounted, lower-margin categories which pushes out the path to profitability for new stores.
The company's cash balance stood at ₹17,820 crore at the end of Q3FY25-26, down from ₹18,314 crore in the previous quarter, largely due to expected investments in capital expenditure (capex) and net working capital in the quick commerce business. The management reiterated confidence that investments in capex and NWC will yield returns on capital employed exceeding 40% over time.
On the regulatory front, the government of India notified several labour codes in November 2025, including the Code on Social Security, Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, Industrial Relations Code, and Code on Wages. Draft rules were released in December 2025 but are yet to be notified. The management assessed that provisions currently in force do not have a material impact on financial results, though they acknowledged the exact operational and financial details will become clear only once rules are fully notified.
The company continues to deal with GST-related demands from various authorities regarding delivery charges. Orders totaling ₹420 crore for the period October 2019 to March 2022 across all states, ₹8 crore for Andhra Pradesh for April 2022 to March 2023, and a show-cause notice for ₹13 crore for Gujarat for the same period are being contested. Supported by external expert advice, the company maintains it has a strong case on merits.
