Eternal Limited has announced a major leadership transition as founder Deepinder Goyal steps down from his Group CEO position to become Vice Chairman, subject to shareholder approval. Albinder Dhindsa will take over as the new Group CEO of the company formerly known as Zomato Limited.

Leadership Transition Details

In a letter to shareholders dated January 21, 2026, Goyal outlined his decision to step away from the Group CEO role while remaining on the board of directors. The transition represents a strategic shift in the company's leadership structure while maintaining continuity in its operations.

Rationale Behind the Change

Goyal explained that he has been drawn to new ideas involving significantly higher-risk exploration and experimentation that are better pursued outside a public company framework. He emphasized that these ideas do not belong within Eternal's strategic scope, and the company deserves to remain focused and disciplined while exploring growth areas relevant to its current business lines.

The founder noted that while he believes he has the bandwidth to continue his current responsibilities at Eternal alongside exploring new ideas, the expectations and legal requirements of being a public company CEO in India demand singular focus. This transition allows Eternal to maintain sharp focus while providing Goyal the space to explore ventures that do not fit the company's risk profile.

Operational Continuity

Despite the leadership change, several key aspects of the company's operations will remain unchanged:

• Partnership between Goyal, Dhindsa, and Akshant continues
• Business CEOs maintain their existing autonomy
• Goyal's involvement in long-term strategy, culture, leadership development, and ethics and governance continues
• Decentralized structure with individual business CEOs remains intact

New Leadership Structure

Under the new arrangement, Dhindsa will assume responsibility for day-to-day execution, operating priorities, and business decisions as the center of gravity for operating decisions shifts to him. Goyal highlighted Dhindsa's track record, particularly his leadership of Blinkit's journey from acquisition to breakeven, including building the team, culture, supply chain, and operating rhythm.

ESOP Restructuring

As part of the transition, all of Goyal's unvested ESOPs will revert to the ESOP pool. This move ensures that Eternal continues to have meaningful wealth-creation opportunities for its next generation of leaders while strengthening long-term retention without incremental shareholder dilution. Goyal emphasized that his financial future remains meaningfully tied to Eternal, maintaining alignment with long-term shareholder value creation.

Future Vision

Goyal reiterated his long-term commitment to Eternal, stating that after eighteen years of building the company, he will continue doing so. He outlined ambitious goals including making Eternal India's most valuable company, serving a billion customers, creating positive societal impact, and providing livelihoods for millions of Indians. The founder characterized this as "a change in title, not in commitment towards outcomes," emphasizing that Eternal remains his life's work.

Eternal is positioned for robust headline growth in the December quarter, with analysts projecting strong performance driven by Blinkit's business model transition and sustained quick commerce momentum. However, margin performance and ongoing losses in newer business segments remain key areas of concern for investors.

Consolidated Financial Projections

Brokerages maintain optimistic outlook for Eternal's Q3 performance, with significant growth expected across key metrics:

The substantial revenue growth is largely attributed to Blinkit's transition to a first-party model, which significantly inflates reported revenue figures without proportionate changes in underlying business economics.

Food Delivery Segment Performance

The core food delivery business is expected to maintain steady growth momentum, though at a more moderate pace compared to previous quarters. Key projections from leading brokerages indicate:

Nuvama estimates net order value for food delivery to rise 2.20% quarter-on-quarter, indicating stable demand with limited acceleration. Motilal Oswal expects take rates to hold steady at approximately 21.50%, while most brokerages foresee incremental profitability gains with sequential margin improvements.

Blinkit's Rapid Expansion and Persistent Losses

Blinkit continues as the primary growth driver, with brokerages projecting substantial expansion across key operational metrics:

Despite strong growth momentum, profitability remains elusive for the quick commerce segment. Loss projections vary among analysts:

• Nuvama: Adjusted EBITDA loss widening to ₹130.00 crore
• Kotak Equities: Loss of approximately ₹140.00 crore, though slightly lower sequentially
• Motilal Oswal: Adjusted EBITDA margin at -1.30% of net order value

Motilal Oswal expects Blinkit's gross profitability to improve to about 26.50%, supported by better take rates and operational efficiencies from increased order density.

Other Business Segments

Hyperpure is expected to continue its upward trajectory with strong growth projections. Kotak Equities models 71% year-on-year revenue growth for the segment, driven by higher restaurant penetration and supply-side scaling improvements.

However, higher losses in Blinkit and the District business are likely to impact overall consolidated profitability. Nuvama expects consolidated EBITDA margin to contract marginally by approximately 10 basis points quarter-on-quarter.

Key Monitoring Areas

While revenue and profit growth are expected to remain strong on paper, analysts will focus on several critical factors:

• Commentary on competitive intensity in quick commerce
• Blinkit's clear path to profitability timeline
• Food delivery order growth sustainability
• Margin performance across business segments
• Impact of business model transitions on long-term economics

The December quarter results will provide crucial insights into Eternal's ability to balance rapid growth with improving unit economics across its diversified business portfolio.