Eternal’s robust Q1; Meta faces content-blocking allegations

Eternal reported a jump in its net profit on the back of Blinkit's improving operating performance. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.

Also in the letter:
■ Accenture to raise stake in ANSR
■ Zetwerk-Ayr Energy’s legal tussle
■ Explained: Why OpenAI went rogue

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Albinder Dhindsa, CEO, Eternal

Zomato and Blinkit parent Eternal delivered a solid first quarter, with on-year profit shooting fourfold and revenues surging nearly three times. However, profits were down 47% sequentially.

Financials:

• Net profit: Rs 92 crore, up from Rs 25 crore a year ago; down 47% compared to Q4 FY26.
• Revenue from operations: Rs 20,211 crore, versus Rs 7,167 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
• Adjusted Ebitda: Rs 555 crore

Why the surge: The sharp rise in revenues was driven by Blinkit's transition to the inventory model, which changed its accounting method. The expansion in net profit was supported by Blinkit's improving operating performance.

Segment-wise business:

• Food delivery: Net order value (NOV) at Rs 10,769 crore, accelerating over 20% year-on-year (YoY), marking its fourth consecutive quarter of growth.
• Blinkit: NOV grew 86% YoY to Rs 17,132 crore, with sequential growth of 19%.
• District: NOV grew 60% to Rs 3,218 crore.
• Hyperpure: Revenue grew 27% YoY on a like-for-like basis to Rs 1,034 crore.
• Bistro, Nugget: Adjusted revenue grew to Rs 95 crore against Rs 4 crore last year.

CEO’s take: "Our focus on long-term growth vectors remains unique in the market — we're the only player simultaneously investing in assortment depth, geographic expansion, and supply chain infrastructure, while competitors generally remain focussed primarily on pricing," Eternal CEO Albinder Dhindsa said.

Also Read: Blinkit flags growth moderation as margins improve

Qcomm races on: Blinkit reported adjusted Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) of Rs 102 crore in the April-June quarter, marking the third consecutive quarter of operating profitability. In the same period last year, the company had reported an operating loss of Rs 162 crore.

Also Read: ETtech Exclusive: Public markets won’t bankroll qcomm cash burn for long: Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa

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CJP protest in Delhi

Meta’s automated systems “mistakenly” suspended the WhatsApp account of Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) spokesperson Saurav Das, sources told us, even as the party accused the company of blocking its handles and protest-related posts.

Driving the news: Multiple users and content creators at the ongoing student protests in Delhi said that Instagram was shadow-banning their photos and videos without an explanation or alert from parent Meta.

Users also flagged that Meta has marked content from Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and some political outfits as 'sensitive content'. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke later said the party’s official Instagram account was withheld in India briefly, with a notice citing a legal request.

Tell me more: Officials said the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) has received takedown requests for some content linked to the protests, as the information was deemed unlawful. However, it hasn’t received or processed any takedown orders for senior figures associated with the protests, they said.

Rising use of blocking powers: Legal experts pointed to a steady rise in government requests to remove or block online content, with authorities increasingly using Section 69A, Section 79 of the IT Act and the IT Rules.

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Global IT services and consulting major Accenture is in talks to raise its minority stake in Bengaluru-based ANSR, a global capability centre (GCC) platform and services company, to a majority holding, according to sources.

ANSR has helped set up over 210 global capability centres (GCCs) of multinational companies including Target, Ikea, Lowe’s Rakuten, and Airbnb.

Deal details:

• Accenture may invest around $350 million to take its stake to over 50%.
• The IT service major currently has a 23% stake in the company. It had invested $170 million in ANSR two years ago in a deal valuing ANSR around $700 million.
• Sources said this investment may value the company at around $1 billion.

Why this matters: Large global corporations are cutting IT spending and prioritising in-house technology development amid macroeconomic slowdown and geopolitical tensions. As a result, Accenture has aggressively stepped up acquisitions, more than doubling its originally planned deal spending this year to about $9 billion.

Also Read: Accenture appoints Pradeep Prabhala as India market unit lead


Vivek Raghuraman, CEO, Mixx Technologies

San Jose-based deeptech startup Mixx Technologies has acquired Bengaluru-based chip design firm Sophic Silicon Technologies.

It has also signed a three-year collaboration with Kaynes Semicon’s Sanand OSAT to build and operate advanced optical integrated circuit assembly and test capability for its products.

Tell me more: The acquisition gives Mixx access to critical mixed-signal design resources needed for its silicon photonics and co-packaged optics (CPO) platform, as it looks to tap India's fast-growing AI infrastructure market, CEO Vivek Raghuraman told us.

The companies did not disclose financial details of the transaction.

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(L-R) Srinath Ramakkrushnan and Amrit Acharya, cofounders, Zetwerk

Zetwerk’s legal tussle with Ayr Energy escalates: IPO-bound contract manufacturer Zetwerk is facing fresh allegations of trade-secret violations in the US after Ayr Energy filed counterclaims in a lawsuit brought by Zetwerk last October, alongside a separate complaint before the US International Trade Commission (ITC).

Why OpenAI went rogue: OpenAI has said two of its AI models went rogue and escaped a controlled testing environment to gain internet access and hack into AI platform Hugging Face while trying to complete a cybersecurity challenge in a “significant” and “unprecedented” security incident.

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■ Meta’s AI incubator is developing an OpenRouter rival to cut coding costs (The Information)

■ Meta’s unwinding of Manus shows even forced deals have merits (FT)

■ AI is shrinking video game development teams to one (Rest of World)