Survival Instinct

With Blinkit's success, the Zomato chief executive has proved his mettle in the art of the turnaround

- Deepsekhar Choudhury

The night Nadir Shah attacked Delhi in 1739, Mughal badshah Muhammed Shah was engaged in delirious revelry, at least so goes pop history. Nevermind the historical accuracy of the story, its message rings true: empires die when emperors take it easy. And that is a truth Deepinder Goyal knows well.

Back in 2022, in the days following the end of pandemic restrictions, the food delivery market had slowed. Having made a bumper entry into the stock market only a year ago, Zomato was finding it difficult to show profitability. Its multiple in-house forays into grocery delivery had failed. Its stock price was plummeting.

At this juncture, Goyal made an audacious bet. He went and acquired Blinkit, a loss-making company for many years for a whopping sum of Rs 4,447 crore. No one understood the move at the time. Zomato’s stock price took a further beating.

Observers said Zomato was biting off more than it could chew. But loyalists maintained it was a calculated bet because Zomato had already acquired a minority stake in the company and that had given Goyal the opportunity to take a close look at Blinkit’s finances.

According to people in the know, he spent six months diving deep into the inner workings of Blinkit to understand if it could be turned around. He even got Blinkit executives to work out of Zomato’s offices before the acquisition happened.

Saviour and the Saved