Deepinder Goyal, a co-founder and known face of Zomato, has stepped down officially from his position as Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Eternal Ltd., which is a parent holding company operating both Zomato and Blinkit. This major transition in one of India’s largest technology companies has been initiated effective February 1st, 2026.
This resignation comes close to 18 years after he founded the food and restaurant search website, which he later developed into the food delivery and quick-commerce-led digital services conglomerate, Zomato, in 2008.
Who Will Take Over: Albinder Dhindsa Will Be The New CEO
The new Group CEO has been appointed by the board to be Albinder Singh Dhindsa, who is the founder of Blinkit, the group’s quick commerce business, and is the current CEO of Blinkit. He shall take over as the Group CEO from February 1, 2026.
Dhindsa is an alum of IIT Delhi and Columbia University, and he led Blinkit to become one of the most successful quick commerce companies in India, and eventually a significant contributor to Eternal’s revenues and profits.
The appointment of Dhindsa, according to industry observers, was part of a larger strategic turn: from founder-led legacy leadership to execution-focused operational management.
Why Goyal resigned: An explanation by himself
The reason, as explained in the letter to shareholders by Goyal, is that he is stepping back from day-to-day executive duties “to pursue higher-risk exploration and experimentation” outside the confines of a listed company.
He shared that while he still has the “bandwidth” to balance both executive responsibilities and these new pursuits, the expectations and legal demands of being a public-company CEO in India require complete focus that should go to Eternal’s leadership continuity.
According to Goyal, the move is not a retreat from the business but more of a reallocation of focus for him, as it would allow him to deal with high-potential and high-risk ideas that do not fit into the current strategic and risk framework of Eternal.
Goyal’s Role Going Forward: Vice Chairman and Strategic Lead
Although he is resigning as the CEO, Deepinder Goyal will not be leaving his post altogether in the company. Eternal has stated that he will take over as the Vice Chairman of the Board, pending stockholder approval. In this role, he will be involved in overall strategy and culture affairs.
The above setup is meant to strike a balance between the retention of institutional memory and the founders’ influence, as well as ensuring that the day-to-day operating implementation of the company is run by the new operating CEO.
The financial interest and alignment with company performance are unaffected with Goyal’s ESOPs that are still unvested and will revert to the company’s retention pool in a move that will support the coming generations of leadership.
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Strategic Context: Quick Commerce Growth Trend and Company Performance
The change in leadership comes when Eternal, especially its Quick Commerce unit Blinkit, has shown impressive performance financially. The company has recently posted a 73% increase in its consolidated net profit on a year-over-year basis to reach ₹102 crore, along with significant growth in revenues from all segments.
Notably, quick commerce has emerged as a major driver of this performance, with revenue from Blinkit far outpacing the legacy food delivery business in recent quarters. This shift in revenue mix underscores Dhindsa’s operational strength and the rationale for installing him as Group CEO.
Analysts see this transition in alignment with focusing leadership on the fastest-growing verticals — especially the instant delivery vertical where Blinkit has started competing aggressively and gaining market share.
Industry Reaction and Market Response
Shares of Eternal treated the news as an icing on the cake and rose, reflecting investors’ confidence in the strategic realignment of the company. Markets welcomed Dhindsa’s appointment, considering his track record for scaling Blinkit, and Goyal’s continued involvement in strategy.
Business circles have also drawn attention to the symbolic importance of the change: after nearly two decades, the founding era of Zomato is slowly yielding place to a new chapter centered on operational execution and segment specialization.
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Legacy and Future Outlook
The journey from being a co-founder to becoming the Group CEO who led Zomato to a market listing and presence in the technology ecosystem makes Goyal a highly visible face in Indian startups among others. His decision to move on, at a relatively young 42, follows a larger trend in which founders take a step back to assume a strategic role and hand over operating responsibility to a new execution leadership team.
The change in management at the company known as Zomato but now operates as Eternal Ltd., marks a shift for this company in a way that it is now focusing its growth in a more scalable manner.
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