Blinkit chief to lead Eternal as Deepinder Goyal shifts focus

Deepinder Goyal is stepping down as CEO of Eternal, the parent company of food delivery service Zomato and quick-commerce division Blinkit. Albinder Dhindsa, the current CEO of Blinkit, will take over the top role. Goyal announced on Wednesday that he will remain on Eternal’s board as vice chairman. According to Goyal, the transition will allow him to shift his focus to higher-risk exploration and experimentation, which he noted may be harder to pursue within the constraints of a listed company. In a letter to shareholders, Goyal, the outgoing CEO, wrote that the transition represents a change in title rather than a shift in his commitment to outcomes, adding, “Eternal remains my life’s work.”

The leadership transition follows a period of strong financial momentum for Eternal. During its third quarter, the company reported the following financial results:

• Profit rose about 73% year-over-year to ₹1.02 billion (around $11.13 million).
• Adjusted revenue reached ₹166.92 billion (about $1.8 billion), representing an increase of 190% from a year earlier.
• Blinkit remained the company’s fastest-growing unit, with its net order value jumping 121% to ₹133 billion (roughly $1.45 billion).

The handover could indicate Blinkit’s rising influence inside Eternal, as the company’s growth increasingly skews toward quick commerce—a retail model focused on rapid delivery, often under 10-30 minutes—rather than its original food delivery business. Goyal co-founded Zomato in 2008 with Pankaj Chaddah as a restaurant discovery platform while both worked at Bain & Company. They quit to focus on the business full-time in 2009, rebranding it as Zomato in 2010 and expanding into food delivery in 2015. Chaddah left the company in 2018. Zomato later consolidated its market position by acquiring Uber Eats’ India business in 2020 and acquiring Blinkit (formerly Grofers) for $568 million in 2022. Outside of Eternal, Goyal has recently been involved in other initiatives, including a longevity-focused project called Continue Research, an experimental brain-health wearable called Temple, and co-founding the aviation startup LAT Aerospace.

This strategic shift occurs as the quick commerce sector in India faces rising scrutiny over working conditions for the thousands of gig workers employed in the industry. The country’s labor ministry recently requested that platforms drop their “10-minute delivery” marketing and implement measures to improve conditions for delivery personnel.

Why it matters

The leadership transition reflects Eternal’s strategic pivot toward quick commerce, which is now the company’s primary growth engine, even as the sector faces regulatory headwinds in India.