Eternal, the parent of Blinkit and Zomato, reported consolidated net profit of Rs 125 crore for the quarter ended September 2026, up 92% from Rs 65 crore a year earlier. Revenue from operations rose 78% year-on-year to Rs 24,138 crore, and was up 19% sequentially from Rs 20,211 crore.
The revenue growth is flattered by a classification change: quick commerce has moved to an inventory-led model, so revenue includes the full value of goods sold rather than mostly marketplace commissions.
Blinkit’s smaller-city proof points
Quick commerce is the largest revenue engine. Blinkit generated Rs 19,152 crore during the quarter, up 94% year-on-year, and swung to an EBITDA profit of Rs 184 crore from an adjusted EBITDA loss of Rs 156 crore a year earlier.
In a shareholder letter, Eternal Group CEO Albinder Dhindsa wrote that the usual doubts about non-metro quick commerce—lower incomes, smaller baskets and weak density—only hold true on the first point. “New stores in these cities reach 1,000 orders per day in similar time as new stores in metros (sometimes even faster),” he said. Net average order values are within 85–90% of metro levels, and baskets include premium beverages, branded diapers and gaming consoles. Retention is comparable to metros.
The challenge, Dhindsa said, is supply. Blinkit is moving products directly from brand warehouses into its own mother warehouses and running last-mile delivery to smaller cities. CFO Akshant Goyal added that paybacks are strong in these less competitive markets, and being first helps lock in early users.
Blinkit added 308 net new stores in the September quarter, taking the dark store network to 2,751, and has raised its March 2027 target to 3,500 from 3,000.
Why the platform is skipping private labels
Despite rival Swiggy Instamart pushing clean-food brand NOICE and fresh-produce brand Nectr, Blinkit is staying out of private labels for now. Dhindsa argued that a private label must either fill a genuine gap and add incremental demand, or improve the economics of existing demand after all costs are counted. “We have evaluated both and believe it doesn’t pass either of these tests,” he said.
Building a label would require product development, manufacturing, quality control, inventory management and marketing. Blinkit sees brands as better placed to own those functions. The platform’s shelf space and visibility can instead support other brands and generate advertising revenue as they scale.
Food delivery and AI risk
Zomato’s revenue came in at Rs 3,879 crore, up 35% year-on-year, with adjusted EBITDA profit up 25% to Rs 627 crore. Average monthly transacting customers grew 16% to 28 million. District, the going-out business, reported Rs 304 crore, up 61%.
Co-founder Deepinder Goyal also pushed back on the idea that AI shopping agents will disintermediate vertical platforms. He said Blinkit and Zomato sit in the low-risk zone, while District is medium-to-high risk. Eternal also expects to roll out a privacy-focused AI assistant, dark.ai, globally within 2026.
What the quarter means
- Blinkit fulfilled 398.9 million orders, up from 331 million in Q1 and 222.7 million a year earlier.
- Net average order value for quick commerce rose to Rs 525 from Rs 518 sequentially.
- Quick commerce monthly transacting customers stood at 37 million; food delivery at 28 million.
- Dark stores: 2,751, with guidance raised to 3,500 by March 2027.
For brand and media teams, Blinkit’s expansion is a distribution and retail-media signal: small-city inventory and ad shelf space are arriving faster than many media plans assume.
Source: MEDIANAMA
