Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi

New Delhi, Jan 21: Deepinder Goyal on Wednesday announced that he will step down as Group CEO of Eternal Limited, the parent company of food delivery platform Zomato, subject to shareholder approval. He will, however, continue on the board as vice chairman.

“Dear shareholders, today, I am going to step away from the Group CEO role, and subject to shareholders’ approval, will remain on the board of directors as vice chairman,” Goyal said in a statement.

He announced that Albinder Dhindsa, popularly known as Albi, will take over as the new CEO.

Explaining the reasons behind his decision, Goyal said he had recently been drawn towards new ideas involving higher-risk exploration and experimentation, which he felt were better pursued outside a public company like Eternal. “If these ideas belonged inside Eternal’s strategic scope, I would have pursued them within the company. They do not,” he said.

Goyal added that Eternal needed to remain focused and disciplined while exploring growth areas relevant to its existing business. While he believed he had the bandwidth to continue leading the company alongside pursuing new ventures, he said the legal and governance expectations of a public company CEO in India required singular focus.

As part of the transition, Goyal also announced that all his unvested employee stock option plans (ESOPs) would revert to the ESOP pool. “My financial future remains meaningfully tied to Eternal, and my incentives remain aligned with long-term shareholder value creation,” he said.

He noted that returning the unvested ESOPs would ensure wealth-creation opportunities for the next generation of leaders and strengthen long-term retention without additional shareholder dilution.