Zo​​mato parent Eternal’s CEO Deepinder Goyal asked Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa to step down twice after acquisition, here’s why

Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO of Zomato's parent company Eternal, has revealed that he asked Albinder Dhindsa to step down from his role twice shortly after the food delivery service acquired Blinkit. Goyal explained that this move was part of his tough leadership reset method. Speaking on a video podcast with Raj Shamani, Goyal noted that these conversations took place soon after the acquisition of the quick commerce startup, when Dhindsa was struggling to adapt to the changes required after the integration."Right after we acquired Blinkit, I asked him (Albinder) to leave. I told him, 'You will not be able to cut it.' He said okay. This happened twice during that timeframe, and we started the transition," Goyal said on the podcast.These remarks offer a rare public look at how Goyal handles senior leadership changes at Eternal, which owns both Zomato and Blinkit, especially when founders or top executives need to adapt to a new company structure after an acquisition. Goyal explained his leadership style involves extended periods of coaching, but if no progress is made, he confronts the person directly. "All of us have this armour. And when patient coaching runs out, I penetrate this armour. Me being angry is also because I care," he noted.The situation reveals the challenges that can arise when successful startup founders join larger organisations through acquisitions and must adjust their working style to fit the new company's expectations.Describing what he calls a "rock bottom" phase, Goyal said he sometimes purposely breaks down a leader's confidence to make them start fresh. "I call this rock bottom, where I hurt people, their self-confidence completely goes for a toss. I do this with people who I think have insane potential, but something in their head is coming in their way," he explained.According to Goyal, this method has worked most of the time. "Over time, the success rate of this is four out of five, where they come out of it,” he added.However, Goyal did not confirm whether Dhindsa's job or duties officially changed during this time. Still, his comments show how intense the process was of bringing Blinkit into Eternal, especially as the company was growing both Blinkit and Zomato while facing more competition in quick commerce.Zomato bought Blinkit, which was previously known as Grofers, in 2022 for Rs 4,447 crore, or about $568 million at the time, in an all-stock deal. This marked Zomato's official entry into India's rapidly growing quick commerce business. Since buying the company, Blinkit has become a key growth area for Eternal, opening many new stores and handling more and more orders.