Zomato-parent Eternal to cap foreign ownership at 49.5%

India’s Eternal, the food delivery and grocery firm behind Blinkit, said it will cap foreign ownership at 49.5%, subject to shareholder approval.

The move would allow the company to qualify as Indian-owned-and-controlled and let Blinkit hold inventory under local investment rules.

The company said its domestic ownership reached 55% as of March 31 after its November 2024 85 billion rupees (US$900 million) qualified institutional placement, which was backed mainly by domestic mutual funds.

India’s foreign investment rules bar foreign-funded online marketplaces from owning inventory or controlling sellers, so quick commerce platforms usually use separate entities to operate dark stores.

🔗 Source: The Economic Times

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Weak margins and rules are driving the inventory shift

Blinkit is responding to poor per-customer economics. Its customer acquisition cost was 1,240 rupees (US$13) well above its customer lifetime value of 890 rupees (US$9.4) 1.
The old marketplace setup also faced legal risk. India’s foreign investment rules bar foreign-funded ecommerce marketplaces from owning or controlling inventory or shaping prices, a hard boundary in quick commerce 2.
Eternal plans to cap foreign ownership at 49.5%, pending shareholder approval. That could help it qualify as an Indian-owned-and-controlled company (IOCC), giving Blinkit a legal route to hold inventory. It could also lift Blinkit’s take rate, or the share of each order it keeps as revenue, from about 18% toward rival Zepto’s ~23% 3.
Suppliers may get simpler compliance as well. Once Blinkit begins taking inventory through purchase orders, they would no longer have to handle Goods and Services Tax (GST) and food safety registrations tied to Blinkit warehouses, also called dark stores 4.

This may reshape competition in Indian quick commerce

The switch raises the bar for rivals such as Zepto, a fast-growing Indian quick-commerce startup. Zepto is also raising domestic capital to increase Indian ownership and gain the same freedom 5. Inventory-led operations now look more like a requirement than an option.
Blinkit has become the main growth driver for parent company Eternal. It made up roughly three-fourths of quarterly revenue in Q3 FY26, the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 6.
Eternal also promoted Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa to run the whole company. That move puts quick commerce, alongside the original food delivery business, at the center of Eternal’s plans 6.
Taken together, these shifts suggest India’s quick commerce market is growing up. The race is moving away from marketplace expansion toward tighter margins, compliance, and efficiency 1.