It’s Thursday, January 22, 2026, and the Indian tech world is still reeling from the news that dropped yesterday.1 Deepinder Goyal, the face of Zomato for nearly two decades, is stepping down as Group CEO of Eternal Ltd.2 The thing is, this isn’t a “retirement.” Or nothing.
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He’s handing the keys to Albinder Dhindsa—the guy who turned a struggling Grofers into the quick-commerce juggernaut that is Blinkit.3 Let’s be real—Blinkit is basically carrying Eternal right now, with revenue numbers that are starting to make the food delivery business look like a side hustle. Those too.
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The Eternal Shuffle: Field Notes
It’s an ongoing situation where the “founder” is moving to the “lab” while the “operator” takes over the ship. Here’s the ground reality:
The Succession: Starting February 1, 2026, Albinder (or “Albi” as they call him) becomes the Group CEO.4 Deepinder moves to Vice Chairman. The thing is, Deepinder says he’s drawn to “higher-risk ideas” that don’t fit inside a public company.5
The Math: Eternal just reported a ₹102 crore profit for Q3 FY26.6 But look at the split: Blinkit’s revenue was ₹12,256 crore while food delivery was just ₹2,676 crore.7 Let’s be real—Blinkit is the empire now.
The “Accidental” Leader: Albinder wasn’t always a tech bro.8 He’s an IIT Delhi (Civil Engg) and Columbia MBA grad who started as a transportation analyst.9 The thing is, he actually worked at Zomato in 2011 as Head of International Expansion before leaving to start Grofers.10 It’s a full-circle moment.
The Relationship: Deepinder and Albinder aren’t just colleagues; they’re old friends. When Zomato bought a sinking Blinkit in 2022, everyone thought Deepinder was bailing out a buddy. And here’s the kicker—that “favor” turned into the most profitable acquisition in Indian startup history.
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The Albinder Dhindsa Profile
| Milestone | Details | The “Ground” Reality |
| Education | IIT Delhi (2004) & Columbia MBA | High-intellect, low-profile. |
| Pre-Startup | UBS Investment Bank & Zomato | Knows the global and local scale. |
| The Pivot | Grofers (2013) to Blinkit (2021) | Survived the 2021 “burn” crisis. |
| Style | “Battle-hardened operator” | Focused on “dark store” unit economics. |
| Personal | Loves basketball & French music | Keeps a very low social media profile. |
And Here’s the Kicker…
The thing is, Deepinder is moving to the Vice Chairman role to work on things like longevity science (via his $25M fund ‘Continue’) and health-tech (Temple).11 Or nothing. He’s basically saying, “Eternal is a well-oiled machine now; I want to go break things again.”
One side comment—Deepinder is also forfeiting his unvested ESOPs (stock options) back to the company pool.12 Let’s be real—that’s a massive “flex” of confidence in the next generation of leaders. It’s an ongoing situation where the “founder-led” era is shifting into a “professional-founder” era. Those too.
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End…
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