Eternal Execs Exercise ₹419 Crore in ESOPs; Blinkit CEO Leads

More than 140 senior executives at Eternal, parent company of Blinkit, exercised employee stock options (ESOPs) worth ₹419 crore between July 29 and 30, according to stock exchange disclosures. The transactions underscore the company’s long-term approach to rewarding leadership and retaining talent.

Blinkit CEO Leads the Pack

Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa accounted for over half the total value, converting options into seven million Eternal shares worth ₹214.51 crore. His exercise of options followed a board-approved schedule, as per ET reports.

In addition to Dhindsa, 31 other top executives each exercised stock options worth more than ₹1 crore. These included Hyperpure CEO Rishi Arora, former Zomato food delivery CEO Rakesh Ranjan, his successor Aditya Mangla, and corporate development head Kunal Swarup. Together, this group accounted for ₹378.50 crore, or about 90% of the total two-day ESOP conversions.

Nearly half of these 32 executives were from Blinkit, with the rest split among Eternal, Zomato, Hyperpure, and the going-out business District.

Understanding ESOP Exercises

Exercising stock options allows executives to buy company shares at a pre-agreed “strike price”, typically lower than the prevailing market rate, as defined in their employment contracts. After exercising, employees can choose to hold the shares or sell them at market value.

Eternal’s stock has been trading at its highest levels in the past seven months. On Friday, it closed 0.3% lower at ₹300.80 per share, giving the company a market capitalisation of ₹2.9 lakh crore ($33 billion).

Blinkit’s Rapid Growth and Expansion

Blinkit has cemented its leadership in India’s quick commerce segment, competing with rivals such as Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, Flipkart Minutes, BigBasket, Reliance’s JioMart, and Amazon Now.

For Q1 FY26, Blinkit’s gross order value (GOV) surged 140% year-on-year to ₹11,821 crore, surpassing Zomato’s GOV of ₹10,769 crore for the first time. However, this aggressive expansion has weighed on Eternal’s profitability, with net profit falling 90% year-on-year to ₹25 crore.

During April–June, Blinkit added 243 new dark stores, bringing the total to 1,544. Eternal plans to open 3,000 such micro-warehouses over time and targets 2,000 by December 2025.

ESOPs as a Wealth-Creation Tool

Eternal (then Zomato) went public in July 2021 with a ₹9,375-crore IPO, creating 18 dollar millionaires, including founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal and former senior executives.

Stock options have become a prominent component of executive pay in India’s internet economy. Flipkart, for example, has conducted ESOP buybacks totaling around $1.5 billion since 2018. Historically, IT services giants like Infosys used ESOPs to reward and retain employees, though founders in such legacy firms typically retained larger stakes due to lower reliance on venture capital.

Also Read: Info Edge’s 12.38% Stake in Eternal Now Accounts for Over One-Third of Its Market Cap!

Conclusion

The recent ₹419-crore ESOP exercise at Eternal highlights the company’s emphasis on aligning leadership incentives with shareholder value creation.

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