India's Eternal said on Wednesday that founder Deepinder Goyal will step down as chief executive officer and managing director starting February 1, when Blinkit head Albinder Dhindsa will take the helm.
Goyal founded Zomato in 2008 and listed the company in 2021 before rebranding the group company as Eternal.
It acquired Blinkit in 2022, which has since become its largest revenue contributor as demand for quick commerce surges among India's rapidly expanding online consumer base.
Blinkit has become Eternal's biggest contributor to revenue over the last few quarters as demand for quick commerce skyrocketed.
Goyal will remain with the company as vice chairman.
In a letter to shareholders, he said Dhindsa will own day-to-day execution, operating priorities and business decisions.
"My involvement in long-term strategy, culture, leadership development, and ethics and governance, continues. This is where I have increasingly focused lately anyway," Goyal said.
The leadership change shifts focus to Eternal's fast-growing instant delivery business in an $11.5 billion market where it fiercely competes with Swiggy and Amazon.com among others.
"Bringing in the CEO from Blinkit is testimony that quick commerce is the future - it is the rainmaker and the key differentiator," brand strategy specialist Harish Bijoor said.
Eternal also reported a 73% jump in profit to 1.02 billion rupees ($11.12 million) for the quarter ended December 31, from 590 million rupees a year ago.
Blinkit posted adjusted core earnings of 40 million rupees for the three months ending December 31, compared to a loss of 1.56 billion in the previous quarter.
Dhindsa, who earlier ran international operations at Zomato for more than two years, founded Blinkit in 2014.
Shares of the company have more than doubled since its listing, adding about $15 billion in market value. On Wednesday, they settled up 5.2% ahead of results.
