A Redditor took aim at India’s “rotting startups culture” this week in a viral post titled “This startup culture needs to STOP.” Shedding light on the stark contrast between the previously reported profit slump of Zomato (and Blinkit) and its personal rise of its founder-CEO Deepinder Goyal, the user directed attention to something being “broken” in the system.
In May, Zomato and Blinkit’s parent company Eternal Limited reported its net profit in the fourth quarter FY25 fell by 78% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 39 crore as opposed to its Rs 175 crore figure during the same period the previous year. Contrary to the vision of the company taking a massive hit, Goyal emerged on top happy as he made a significant expansion to his real estate profile.
Deepinder Goyal’s real estate decisions in focus as Redditor takes aim at Indian startup culture
Just days ago, the Zomato CEO made headlines for snapping up an unbelievably extravagant Rs 52 crore apartment in Gurugram’s DLF Camellias, which spans 10,813 sq ft. The latest addition, along with both his Rs 50 crore Mehrauli plot and a 5-acre land in Dera Mandi Village worth $79 crore bought in 2024, is now part of net worth of his $1.6 billion net worth.
While the ultra-luxury purchase only caught the public’s attention this week, documented accessed by Zapkey divulged that Goyal actually spent the staggering amount and made the property his own in August 2022. The conveyance deed for the same was registered on March 17, 2025.
Given the development, the Redditor spoke up, “Blinkit continues to burn money, and in the middle of this bleeding balance sheet, founder Deepinder Goyal is busy moving into a ₹52 crore palace at DLF Camellias, Gurugram, with five car parks, a golf course, private lifts, and ₹3.66 crore splurged on stamp duty alone.”
They further asserted that Goyal’s example was “NOT a one-off episode,” but actually a ” reflection of the rotting startup culture in India that glorifies wealth optics over performance, narrative over numbers, and where IPOs are entrance gates for founders into billionaires’ clubs.”
Zomato CEO’s car collection also questioned as strong reactions build up
Earlier this year, the Zomato co-founder even added a Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato to his mindboggling car collection. In addition to the reported Rs 4.6 crore acquisition, his other high-performance vehicles line is believed to include multiple Porsches, a Bentley Continental GT W12 Mulliner Edition, a BMW M8 Competition, an Aston Martin DB12, and a Ferrari Roma.
The supercar collection also caught a momentary mention in the Redditor’s heated outburst online. “Every day, users paid surge prices, and delivery partners broke their backs. and yet, when profits fall, we’re told to stay patient, while the founder quietly upgrades to the most expensive address in NCR,” the user continued.
They concluded the post: “If your company’s profits can’t pay for growth, but your founder can pay ₹3.5 crore just in stamp duty, something is broken.”
One of top comments under the post came from an anonymous self-proclaimed “former start-up CEO.” Seemingly agreeing with the person who penned the post, they wrote, “I have often posted on start-up founders diverting investor funds for their personal lifestyles and lamented the fact that we celebrate such people, because we equate success with valuation and promoter profile.”
However, they quickly changed lanes. Highlighting that Zomato is a public listed company, they went on to say, “The promoter salary and perks have been approved by the board and shareholders and is in the public domain. If shareholders have no problem with it, why should we?”
While someone declared the response the “most sensible reply,” another countered with their own take on the matter. “Approved by the board, but not all the shareholders. You can buy off the board,” someone added to the thread. A follow-up response chimed in, “Exactly. It’s not a start-up culture problem. It’s a scam culture and its very common in India.”
Yet another user aimed their attack on the system, saying, “This is not a startup case. This is getting wealthy via the system. Normal capitalism, he has cracked ‘it’ like other wealthy folk.”