Eternal Limited informed stock exchanges on Wednesday that Deepinder Goyal will step down as Group CEO and managing director, with Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa set to take over as Group CEO from February 1, subject to shareholder approval.
The company said Goyal will transition to the role of Vice Chairman for a five-year term upon approval by shareholders."Dear Shareholders, Today, I am going to step away from the Group CEO role, and subject to shareholders’ approval, will remain on the board of directors as vice chairman," he announced. Goyal also said that the centre of gravity for day-to-day operating decisions will move to Albinder Dhindsa, adding that Blinkit remains Eternal’s largest growth opportunity.
The CEO further explained his reasons for change saying, "Of late, I have found myself drawn to a set of new ideas that involve significantly higher-risk exploration and experimentation. These are the kinds of ideas that are better pursued outside a public company like Eternal."Justifying his decision he added, "If these ideas belonged inside Eternal’s strategic scope, I would have pursued them within the company.
They do not. Eternal deserves to remain focused, and disciplined, while exploring new areas of growth that are relevant to its current line of business. While I believe I personally have the bandwidth to continue what I am doing at Eternal, and also explore new ideas outside of it, the expectations, legal and otherwise, of a public company CEO in India demand singular focus.
"Goyal also announced that his unvested ESOPs will revert to the "Esop pool".
"My financial future remains meaningfully tied to Eternal, and my incentives remain aligned with long-term shareholder value creation.As part of this transition, all of my unvested ESOPs will revert to the ESOP pool. "This ensures that Eternal continues to have meaningful wealth-creation opportunities for its next generation of leaders, while strengthening long-term retention without incremental shareholder dilution," he said.