In a rare turn for Indian tech, Albinder Dhindsa (who colleagues call ‘Albi’), founder and chief executive of quick commerce major Blinkit, has been named Group CEO of Eternal Lt.—the parent of Zomato and Blinkit—effective February 1. Earlier today, Eternal Founder Deepinder Goyal announced he will step down from the Group CEO role and, pending shareholder approval, move to the board as vice chairman.
An IIT-Delhi graduate with an MBA from Columbia Business School, Dhindsa began his career in logistics and finance before returning to India to work at Zomato, where he headlined international operations.
In 2013, he left to co found Grofers, spotting inefficiencies in urban grocery supply chains long before the category went mainstream. Over the next decade, he led the company through repeated reinvention—marketplace to inventory led retail, and eventually quick commerce—earning a reputation as a data driven operator willing to make hard calls ahead of the curve.
In December 2021, Dhindsa rebranded Grofers as Blinkit, committing to sub 20 minute delivery via dense dark store networks—just as cash grew scarce and rivals Swiggy Instamart and Zepto doubled down. The company shut weaker locations and focussed on high demand neighbourhoods to improve unit economics.
In June 2022, Zomato agreed to buy Blinkit (then rebranded from Grofers) in an all stock deal worth about $568 million (Rs4,447 crore)—well below Blinkit’s earlier private market peaks, prompting talk of a “distress sale”. Additionally, Zomato picked up Blinkit’s warehousing and ancillary services arm Hands on Trade Private Limited (HOTPL), signalling deeper supply chain bets.
For Zomato, the 2022 deal was a strategic adjacency: Push beyond restaurant delivery into higher frequency baskets that could boost fleet utilisation and customer stickiness. At the time, Goyal argued the economics would work at scale given logistics synergies and cross sell potential—claims that looked optimistic in a funding winter.
For Eternal, Blinkit has emerged as the key growth driver, with the company highlighting quick commerce momentum and improved profitability metrics around the leadership transition.
The company’s Q3 FY26 results flagged a sharp step up in profitability at the group level—Eternal reported a 73 percent year on year jump in consolidated net profit to Rs102 crore, while Blinkit posted its first ever adjusted EBITDA profit of Rs4 crore, swinging from a Rs156 crore loss in the previous quarter—milestones that bolstered Dhindsa’s case to lead the wider platform. Dhindsa credits this improvement to supply chain cost efficiencies, a favourable shift towards long tail categories and operating leverage, despite elevated competitive intensity.
Goyal, in his letter to shareholders, added that Blinkit remains the company’s largest growth opportunity and will remain Dhindsa’s top priority. He also added, “He [Albi] has the DNA of a battle hardened founder and his ability to execute far exceeds mine.”
First Published: Jan 21, 2026, 18:46
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