Eternal CEO and Blinkit founder Albinder Singh Dhindsa said that, compared with a 104% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between FY23 and FY26, the 10-minute delivery firm expects its net order value (NOV) to grow by over 60% over the next three years.
“That translates into the business growing to more than four times its current scale in three years. Quick commerce today is still concentrated in the top 15-20 cities and across a relatively narrow set of categories. The headroom for growth in geography, assortment and frequency is substantial,” Dhindsa said in the company’s quarterly shareholder letter.
Blinkit also reported its second consecutive quarter of operating profitability, with adjusted Ebitda of Rs 37 crore in the March quarter, compared with a loss of Rs 178 crore a year earlier. In the October-December period, it had posted an operating profit of Rs 4 crore.
The comments come as public market investors increasingly push quick commerce companies to focus on profitability after several quarters of rising cash burn.
In a December interview with ET, Dhindsa had said that the public market’s appetite for funding quick commerce expansion through balance-sheet capital is limited, adding that the sector will soon have to confront questions around sustainable growth.
Dhindsa – who was named Eternal’s CEO in February after Deepinder Goyal transitioned to the vice-chairman role of the company – cautioned, however, that Blinkit’s growth outlook could be weighed down by intensifying competition.
“High competition can have an adverse impact at times, such as now, when aggressive discounting is driving poor-quality growth centred on select low-margin SKUs,” he said. “Over the longer term, however, healthy competition will support both our growth and that of the broader market.”
Blinkit’s parent, Eternal, reported a threefold year-on-year increase in operating revenue for the March quarter to Rs 17,292 crore, while net profit rose 4.5 times to Rs 174 crore. The sharp rise in revenue was largely driven by Blinkit’s shift from a marketplace model to an inventory-led model. Instead of recognising only commissions as revenue, the company now books the full value of sales in its topline.