Vipin Kapooria resigns as Blinkit CFO, likely to rejoin Flipkart

Vipin Kapooria, chief financial officer of Blinkit, the quick commerce arm of Eternal, formerly Zomato, has resigned around a year after taking charge of the role and is likely to return to his former employer Flipkart, people familiar with the matter told Moneycontrol.

Kapooria joined Blinkit around September to October 2024 and became the company’s first full-time CFO since Amit Sachdeva left in 2022. His appointment followed a major funding round for Blinkit, which Eternal had described as its most important business division, and came weeks after the company raised ₹8,500 crore, or about $1 billion, through a qualified institutional placement.

This will mark Kapooria’s third stint at Flipkart. He previously worked at the Walmart-owned e-commerce company from 2015 to 2018 and again from August 2020 to October 2024, spending more than seven years there in total. According to the report, his return comes as Flipkart prepares for a planned initial public offering in 2026.

Eternal and Flipkart did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and it remains unclear who will succeed Kapooria as Blinkit’s chief financial officer.

Kapooria’s exit comes at a time of intensifying competition in India’s quick commerce sector. Blinkit, currently the market leader, is facing increased rivalry from Swiggy’s Instamart, Zepto, Tata Group’s BigBasket, Flipkart Minutes and Amazon Now. The top three players, Blinkit, Instamart and Zepto, are expected to head to public markets in the near future, marking a significant milestone for an industry that emerged only five to six years ago.

Quick commerce has rapidly shifted from being a supplementary offering to a consumer necessity, prompting heavy investment across the sector. A Moneycontrol analysis found that Blinkit, Swiggy and Zepto have together burnt nearly ₹9,000 crore over the past nine to 11 months, even as they continue to hold substantial cash reserves.

Despite high burn rates, the three companies collectively hold more than ₹40,000 crore in cash and cash equivalents, including funds raised recently through qualified institutional placements by Eternal and Swiggy. This strong liquidity position is expected to enable them to sustain aggressive competition as they vie for a larger share of India’s fast-growing quick commerce market.