Deepinder Goyal to step down as Eternal Group CEO; Albinder Dhindsa to take over

Eternal the parent entity of Blinkit and Zomato on Wednesday said Deepinder Goyal will step down as its Group CEO and Managing Director with Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa set to succeed him as Group CEO from February 1Goyal in a letter to shareholders said he is stepping down from his current position to pursue new ideas that involve a significantly higherrisk exploration and will transition to the role of Vice ChairmanEternal informed exchanges that the appointment of Goyal as Vice Chairman amp Director on the board will be effective upon shareholders approval for a fiveyear termIn the letter Goyal explained the reason behind his resignation saying of late he found himself drawn to a set of new ideas that involve significantly higherrisk exploration and experimentationThese are the kinds of ideas that are better pursued outside a public company like Eternal If these ideas belonged inside Eternals strategic scope I would have pursued them within the company They do not he saidGoyal has been branching out and investing in other areas unrelated to the core business of Eternal which owns Zomato and BlinkitLast year he announced that he would invest USD 25 million to expand his venture Continue Research that aims to support research in health and longevityHe had also invested USD 20 million in LAT Aerospace a startup cofounded by exZomato COO Surobhi DasEternal deserves to remain focused and disciplined while exploring new areas of growth that are relevant to its current line of business Goyal saidHe added that while he believes he has the bandwidth to continue what he is doing at Eternal and also explore new ideas outside of it the expectations legal and otherwise of a public company CEO in India demand singular focusThis transition allows Eternal to remain sharply focused while giving me the space to explore ideas that do not fit Eternals risk profile he further statedGoyal shared that as the new Group CEO of Eternal the centre of gravity for operating decisions moves to Albinder DhindsaAs Group CEO he Albinder will own daytoday execution operating priorities and business decisions Goyal said adding that Blinkit remains Eternals largest growth opportunityGoyal informed shareholders that his financial future remains meaningfully tied to Eternal and incentives remain aligned with longterm shareholder value creationAs part of this transition all of my unvested ESOPs will revert to the ESOP pool This ensures that Eternal continues to have meaningful wealthcreation opportunities for its next generation of leaders while strengthening longterm retention without incremental shareholder dilution he statedSharing his vision for Eternal Goyal stated I want Eternal to become Indias most valuable company I want us to serve a billion customers I want us to create the most positive impact on society I want us to be the source of livelihoods for millions of Indians None of that changesThe parent entity of Zomato and Blinkit among other businesses was rebranded as Eternal last year It was cofounded by Goyal in 2008 initially as a restaurant discovery platform called Foodiebay in Delhi providing menus and reviews before rebranding to Zomato in 2010Zomato listed on the stock exchanges in 2021 rebranded to Eternal last year to reflect its expansion beyond the food delivery business to quick commerce Blinkit Hyperpure B2B supplies District ticketing dining out etc among othersEighteen years ago the idea that a menu scanning company could be worth tens of billions of dollars provide livelihoods to hundreds of thousands of people and serve millions of families daily would have seemed absurd We helped prove it was possible And theres a lot in store for Eternal to do over the next few decades Goyal said in the shareholders letterThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever