You either adapt or perish: Deepinder Goyal

Over the last decade, Zomato has been rebranded Eternal and its businesses have consolidated under four core pillars

By Rajiv Singh Forbes India Staff

Published: Mar 26, 2025 11:05:36 AM IST

Updated: Mar 26, 2025 11:24:27 AM IST

Full Bio

Deepinder Goyal, CEO, Zomato Image: Madhu Kapparath

Deepinder Goyal started his entrepreneurial journey in 2008, when he co-founded FoodieBay, which became Zomato in 2010.

Over the last decade, Zomato—renamed Eternal in February—made 16 acquisitions and consolidated its businesses under four pillars: Zomato (online food delivery), Blinkit (quick commerce), HyperPure (B2B vertical for hotels, restaurants & caterers), and District (dining, ticketing). Along the way, Goyal’s public persona has acquired a contentious edge, sharpened by his job posting in November last year for a chief of staff who, instead of earning a salary, would be paying Zomato ₹20 lakh. Goyal backtracked on that, but the aftertaste lingers. Edited excerpts::

Q. Was your chief of staff job posting a publicity stunt?

In India, recruiting is hard. Usually, people pretend to be somebody they are not. Over time, when you start working with them, you figure out that the person is not cut out for the role and is not a long-term thinker. This brings down your hit rate in terms of hiring. I knew by doing this—chief of staff gig—some amount of my ‘personal equity’ would get burnt. But we ended up getting some solid talent: People with humility, good work ethic, and the ones focussed on their mental health.

Q. What is the thinking behind rebranding Zomato as Eternal?

When we bought Blinkit, we started using Eternal internally. It was done to distinguish between the company and the brand and the app. But the underlying thought was to rename the company to Eternal when we discover something that has the potential to become bigger than Zomato and significantly drive the future. I think, with Blinkit, we are there.

There is a philosophical meaning as well. Eternal means either you adapt or perish. Eternal is not about living forever. What it means is if you don’t take the right actions and decisions today, you might die.

Eternal is not just a change of name. It is a mission statement. If you think you have become a big organisation and nobody can beat you… that’s the beginning of your end. So, it’s a paradoxical reminder to adapt and put your best foot forward.

Also read: Zomato has rebranded to Eternal but it faces old challenges, questions

Q. Will quick commerce find a profitable and sustainable future?

We proved that it can make money. Food delivery took time. Every business has to be seen and grown on a long-term basis. There are no shortcuts.

Q. How do you view the way the stock market reacts?

We are not in the business of the stock price. It is other people’s job. They can do whatever they want to do with it. We don’t care… we know the fundamentals of the business are strong. We have just rewired ourselves to not let it affect us.

Q. Would you also adapt to the more competitive landscape of quick commerce? More players, high cash burn, high customer acquisition cost (CAC)…

CAC keeps changing every month. There’s no fixed answer to CAC. Whenever competition goes up, CAC goes up.

Q. Can discounts lead to customer stickiness?

Discounts are not a driver of market share. There is a certain segment of a population—maybe 20 percent of our customer base—which would switch because of discounts. But these customers do not contribute to our profit pool. So, we don’t optimise the business for that audience.

Q. Like food delivery, would quick commerce also become a two-horse race?

Two-player [in online food delivery] just happened. It was never supposed to be that way. Uber had issues on a global level, so they sold Uber Eats to us. If they had not been grappling with such issues, there would have been three players. Dubai has eight players, and the number of players is still going up. So, there are no fixed rules to these things. It is what it is.