Eternal CEO Deepinder Goyal hands over reins to Blinkit chief as quick commerce takes off

Deepinder Goyal, the co-founder and CEO of food delivery service Zomato and its parent Eternal, is stepping down from his role and handing the top job to Albinder Dhindsa, the CEO of its quick-commerce division Blinkit.

Goyal on Wednesday said he would remain on Eternal’s board as vice chairman as he shifts focus to “higher-risk exploration and experimentation,” which he says may be harder to pursue within the constraints of a listed company.

“This is a change in title, not in commitment toward outcomes,” Goyal said in a letter to Eternal’s shareholders. “Eternal remains my life’s work.”

Goyal co-founded Zomato with Pankaj Chaddah in 2008 as a restaurant discovery and reviews platform called FoodieBay while both were working at Bain & Company. In 2009, they quit to focus on the business full-time, and rebranded it as Zomato in 2010 amid a naming conflict with eBay, before expanding into food delivery in 2015.

Chaddah left the company in 2018, and Zomato later consolidated its position by acquiring Uber Eats’ India business in 2020, and Blinkit (formerly Grofers) for $568 million in 2022.

The leadership change comes as Eternal reported (PDF) strong momentum in its third quarter, with profit rising about 73% to ₹1.02 billion (around $11.13 million) from a year earlier, on adjusted revenue ₹166.92 billion (about $1.8 billion), up 190% from a year ago.

Blinkit remained the company’s fastest-growing business, with net order value jumping 121% to ₹133.0 billion (roughly $1.45 billion) in the last quarter.

Outside Eternal, Goyal has been working on other projects for the last few months, including a longevity-focused initiative called Continue Research, and an experimental brain-health wearable dubbed “Temple”. He is a co-founder of the aviation startup LAT Aerospace, and also is an angel investor.

The handover could be an indicator of Blinkit’s rising influence inside Eternal, as the company’s growth skews toward quick commerce and away from its mainstay, food delivery.

Quick commerce in India is booming even as the sector faces rising scrutiny over working conditions for the thousands of gig workers employed in the industry. The country’s labour ministry recently asked platforms to drop their “10-minute delivery” marketing, and put in place measures to improve conditions for their delivery personnel.