When Zomato acquired Blinkit in 2022, the deal was supposed to secure its entry into quick commerce. Instead, it triggered a leadership crisis that almost ended with Blinkit losing its founder.
Eternal founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal revealed that he asked Blinkit founder and CEO Albinder Dhindsa to step down twice, soon after the acquisition, during a turbulent phase of post-merger integration.
“I told him you will not be able to cut it. He said okay,” Goyal said in a podcast with Raj Shamani, describing conversations that took place shortly after Blinkit was folded into Zomato’s ecosystem.
From Grofers to Blinkit
At the time of the acquisition, Blinkit, formerly Grofers, was undergoing a fundamental shift. The company was moving away from its next-day grocery delivery model towards a 10-minute delivery format.
According to Goyal, many practices that had worked in Blinkit’s earlier avatar became obstacles in the new business. The challenge was not effort, but adaptation. Leadership had to think differently, build the organisation from scratch, and align with the demands of a fast-scaling quick commerce model.
Goyal said Dhindsa struggled to adjust to these structural and cultural changes in the immediate aftermath of the acquisition.
A leadership style that pushes people to ‘rock bottom’
Goyal described his management philosophy as one that begins with patient coaching but turns confrontational when progress stalls.
“All of us have this armour,” he said. “When patient coaching runs out, I penetrate this armour.”
He explained that he sometimes deliberately pushes leaders into what he calls a “rock bottom” phase, where confidence is stripped away to force introspection and reset. While acknowledging that the process is emotionally difficult, Goyal said it is reserved for people he believes have high potential but are blocked mentally.
Asked to leave—twice
It was during this phase that Goyal told Dhindsa he might not be the right leader for Blinkit.
“I was even at a point of asking Albi to leave because he was not the right leader for the organisation,” Goyal said. “This happened twice during that timeframe, and we started the transition.”
Goyal did not clarify whether Dhindsa’s formal role or decision-making authority was changed, only that a transition process was initiated after the conversations.
The turning point: living with the exit
According to Goyal, the inflexion came after Dhindsa “lived” with the possibility of leaving the company he had founded.
Following that period, Dhindsa began working closely with Goyal to reshape the organisation over several months. Together, they focused on rethinking how Blinkit should operate in the new quick commerce environment and aligning it with Eternal’s broader priorities.
Outcomes began to emerge as the organisation changed how it built and executed the business.
Zomato’s acquisition of Blinkit, valued at Rs 4,447 crore in an all-stock deal, was widely criticised at the time. Zomato’s stock fell sharply following the transaction, and the deal raised questions about strategy and integration.
Since then, Blinkit has emerged as Eternal’s largest business by net order value. Driven by rapid dark store expansion and rising order volumes, it has outpaced Zomato’s legacy food delivery business.
Today, Blinkit accounts for a majority of Eternal’s overall value.
Eternal Share Price
Eternal’s share price has been flat on Monday. The stock is down 5.39% in the last 1 month. However, it is up 3.34% in 2025.