Blinkit, the quick commerce arm of Eternal (formerly Zomato), posted a 155 percent on-year jump in revenue at Rs 2,400 crore for the quarter ended June 2025 (Q1FY26), as its monthly transacting customers and total orders swelled.
Adjusted revenue for Eternal’s food delivery arm stood at Rs 2,657 crore, up 18 percent from a year ago, but grew only 10 percent sequentially versus Blinkit’s over 40 percent quarter-on-quarter rise.
The surge in Blinkit’s topline came even as operating losses widened year-on-year due to aggressive expansion. Adjusted EBITDA loss for the quarter stood at Rs 162 crore, up sharply from Rs 3 crore a year earlier but narrowed from Rs 178 crore in Q4FY25, suggesting improved efficiency at scale as Blinkit added more than 240 dark stores during the quarter.
Gross order value (GOV) – or the total value of customer purchases before discounts - more than doubled to Rs 11,821 crore, growing 25 percent quarter-on-quarter. Net order value (NOV), an internal metric that represents Blinkit’s post-discount earnings from customer orders, increased 127 percent year-on-year Rs 9,230 crore, buoyed by rising volumes.
“We added 243 net new stores this quarter, taking our store count to 1,544 stores by the end of the quarter,” said Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa, in a letter to shareholders. “We have visibility to get to 3,000 stores today, and we will communicate the timeline for getting there, after we get to our current milestone of 2,000 stores by December 2025.”
Blinkit’s monthly transacting users in Q1FY26 surged to 16.9 million in the June quarter from 7.6 million a year earlier, while average order value held steady at Rs 669, indicating consistent customer spend as the platform scaled.
Marketplace to inventory shift
Starting September 1, Blinkit will begin transitioning from a marketplace model - where third-party sellers list and sell goods - to an inventory-led model where Blinkit will directly own products and sell to customers.
Moneycontrol was the first to report on this shift, which marks a major change in how the company operates and reports revenue. Seller partners have already been notified about the change.
This shift was enabled by Eternal receiving Indian Owned and Controlled Company (IOCC) status, which allows Blinkit to hold inventory under India’s foreign direct investment rules.
“This gives us more leverage on margins plus allows us to push harder and faster on assortment expansion,” said Eternal CFO Akshant Goyal. He expects the shift to drive about 1 percentage point improvement in Blinkit’s margin profile over time. About 3 percent of NOV in Q1 already came from Blinkit-owned inventory.
Goyal also pointed to the efficiency of Blinkit’s store economics. “A typical store requires about Rs 1 crore of capex and generates Rs 26 crore of NOV annually," implying a ROCE of 40 percent.
The change in inventory model will also lead to a realignment of Eternal’s other businesses. Hyperpure, Eternal’s B2B supply chain unit, will exit its non-restaurant vertical since many of those buyers were also Blinkit sellers.
Eyes on smaller towns, new categories
As Blinkit expands beyond metros, it is seeing encouraging signs from smaller towns. Though average order value in these regions is about 10 percent lower, but a lower operating cost is helping preserve margins. “There is early evidence that margins will be attractive even in smaller cities,” Dhindsa said.
The company has also incorporated a new entity, Blinkit Foods, to explore adjacent verticals. Its pilot under the ‘Bistro’ brand is testing
This comes as Blinkit - via its 10-minute food delivery arm Bistro - is looking to tap into new consumption occasions.
Dhindsa said the company’s near-term focus remains on execution. “The opportunity in front of us is massive…Under no circumstances, will we let go of our market position here, and lose sight of the size of the prize in the long term.”
While Blinkit’s losses have widened year-on-year, the sequential improvement and operating leverage from scale signal a path to profitability. With the company aggressively expanding its store network, shifting to an inventory-led model, and entering new categories, Eternal is betting on Blinkit as a long-term growth engine.
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