Deepinder Goyal, Vice Chairman Eternal
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Zomato has introduced Nugget, an AI-powered customer support platform, to help businesses automate and manage customer interactions without coding. The announcement was made by Deepinder Goyal, CEO of Eternal (Zomato’s parent company), through an X post on Monday. “More exciting launches coming soon,” he added.

???? Introducing Nugget—an AI-native, no-code customer support platform.

Nugget helps businesses scale support effortlessly—highly customizable, low-cost, no dev team needed. No rigid workflows, just seamless automation.

Resolves up to 80% of queries autonomously
Learns &… pic.twitter.com/pnVrUEhmcd

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) February 17, 2025

What is Nugget?

Nugget is an AI-powered, autonomous customer support solution that does not require coding or a development team. Designed to resolve up to 80 per cent of queries autonomously while reducing resolution time by 20 per cent, the platform has been in development for the past three years as an internal tool, said Mr Goyal.

Currently, Nugget handles over 15 million support interactions per month for Zomato, Blinkit, and Hyperpure. Following its success within Zomato’s ecosystem, the platform is now being opened to businesses worldwide. Mr Goyal said that 90 per cent of companies that tested Nugget opted to sign up.

Zomato Labs’ First Product

Nugget is the first innovation from Zomato Labs, an incubator focused on in-house technological advancements. The AI tool is designed to learn and adapt in real-time, making it suitable for various industries beyond food tech.

Key capabilities of Nugget

• Intelligent conversations for seamless customer interactions.
• AI-powered image classification to enhance issue resolution speed.
• Automated quality audits for improved efficiency.
• Voice AI agents and agent co-pilot features to assist human agents.
• Fluid integrations with existing support systems.

Zomato is positioning Nugget as a cost-effective alternative to legacy customer support providers. In an effort to attract businesses, Zomato is offering the platform for free to founders stuck in contracts with legacy providers.

While financial details remain undisclosed, Mr Goyal said that Nugget is designed to be a low-cost, scalable solution with 99.99 per cent uptime. Businesses interested in using the platform can sign up via nugget.zomato.com.

The logo of Indian food delivery company Zomato with its new logo of ‘Eternal’.

Food and delivery platform Zomato said on Thursday (February 6, 2025) it will rename the company to “Eternal” and unveiled a new logo, a move that comes more than two years after it began using the new name internally. 

In a letter to shareholder, founder Deepinder Goyal said, “When we acquired Blinkit, we started using “Eternal” [instead of Zomato] internally to distinguish between the company and the brand/app. We also thought that we would publicly rename the company to Eternal, the day something beyond Zomato became a signicant driver of our future.”

“Today, with Blinkit, I feel we are there. We would like to rename Zomato Ltd., the company [not the brand/app], to Eternal Ltd,” he added.

Eternal would comprise its four major businesses — food delivery vertical Zomato, quick-commerce unit Blinkit, live events business District and kitchen supplies unit Hyperpure

Mr. Goyal further informed that the company’s board has already approved of the change.

The move marks a shift for the company, from when investors were skeptical about Zomato’s acquisition of Blinkit in mid-2022, to quick commerce-led growth drawing increasing investor interest.

(With inputs from Reuters)

A Delhi man was “deeply shaken” after listening to a young Zomato delivery executive who delivered food to his doorstep late one night. Himanshu Bohra shared the story of Shiva Sarkar, a delivery executive barely in his twenties, who works tirelessly through the night to support his family after his father’s death.

In his LinkedIn post titled “The Story of Shiva Sarkar,” Mr Bohra said that one night, after wrapping up his work at 3 AM, he ordered food through Zomato.

“As the doorbell rang, I stood up to open it. There he was, Shiva Sarkar, the delivery executive, with a warm smile despite the biting cold outside. But there was something in his eyes. A heaviness, a story untold,” he wrote.

Mr Bohra invited the Zomato agent in, offering him water and inquiring about his well-being. That’s when the young man broke down and revealed his struggles. After losing his father, Mr Sarkar was forced to drop out of school in class 8 and take up a job to support his family. His earnings now go toward preparing for his younger sisters’ weddings.

“I sat there, in awe of his strength,” Mr Bohra said. “This young man, who should be chasing his aspirations, is instead running against the clock to make ends meet, with a determination that can only be admired.”

Mr Bohra reflected on countless others like Sarkar — “young boys and girls sacrificing their education, dreams, and potential to keep their families afloat.” After meeting Mr Sarkar, he wondered how society could help individuals like him.

The post continued with an emotional plea to Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal: “Deepinder Goyal, I love the Zomato app, but can we do more?” He asked if Zomato could introduce upskilling programmes, scholarships, or easy loans for these “unsung heroes.” 

“What if these delivery executives could dream again? Could learn skills that open doors to brighter futures while earning a living?” he wrote.

The post, which included a photo of Mr Sarkar (shared with his consent), has since gone viral.

Zomato was quick to respond.

In a comment, the company wrote, “Thanks for bringing this to our attention. This looks quite inspirational, and we are proud of our delivery universe,” asking for the order ID of the delivery partner to express their appreciation for his dedication and hard work.

Sriharsha Majety, CEO, Swiggy Limited, speaks at the Swiggy bell ringing listing ceremony, at the National Stock Excgange, in Mumbai, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Avenue Supermarkets Ltd. (DMart) promoter Radhakishan Damani, Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal and Swiggy’s Sriharsha Majety and Nandan Reddy have secured the top three positions respectively in the second edition of IDFC First Private Banking and Hurun India’s ‘India’s Top 200 Self-made Entrepreneurs of the Millennia 2024’ which was released on Wednesday.

In the face of emerging challenges from quick-commerce, Mr. Damani grew his company’s valuation by 44% to ₹3.4 lakh crore while Zomato and Swiggy saw their valuation growing up by 190% and 52% respectively to ₹2.52 lakh crore and ₹1.01 lakh crore.

Kaivalya Vohra, 21, and Aadit Palicha, 22, co-founders of Zepto, were the youngest self-made entrepreneurs with their valuation more than doubling to ₹41,800 crore.

Happiest Minds Founder Ashok Soota, 81, was the eldest in the list of self-made entrepreneurs.

Among the 19 women on the list, Falguni Nayar of Nykaa leads as the highest-ranked woman, breaking into the top 10 with a 30% valuation gain.

Ghazal Alagh (36) of MamaEarth has become the youngest woman entrepreneur, with her company’s valuation increasing 55% to ₹15,500 crore.

As many as 56 founders representing 32 companies were added to this year’s list and the cumulative value of all the 200 companies in the list was up 20% at ₹36 lakh crore which was almost equivalent to the GDP of Maharashtra.

“The total value of the companies found by self-made entrepreneurs worth $431 billion is equivalent to a quarter of the value of India’s 200 Most Valuable Family Businesses, despite being founded in the last 24 years compared to the latter’s average existence of 69 years,” said Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India.

“While the valuation of unlisted companies were arrived at based on their past fund raising, some of them were knocked out of the list due to their unjustifiably valuation,” he added.

Vikas Sharma, Head-Wealth Management & Private Banking, IDFC First Bank said, “The report highlights the extraordinary journeys of visionary entrepreneurs who are transforming India’s economic landscape and these business leaders embody innovation and the relentless pursuit for excellence.”

The owner of Ambience Mall, Gurugram, took corrective action after Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal shared his experience of picking up food from restaurants at the mall, where he alleged that he was stopped from using the lift while picking up the order since it was not “meant for delivery agents”.

Mr Goyal, along with his wife Grecia Munoz took on the role of delivery partner to get a first-hand experience of their challenges, said he was told to take the stairs when he went to the Ambience Mall to collect an order. 

Read more: Zomato CEO Says He Was Stopped From Using Mall’s Lift While Collecting Order

In the latest update, Mr Goyal said, “Ambience Mall has already responded to the situation, and created a comfortable online food delivery pick-up point for all delivery partners. Thanks Arjun (owner of Ambience) for noticing my post and taking quick action.”

Ambience Mall has already responded to the situation, and created a comfortable online food delivery pick up point for all delivery partners. Thanks Arjun (owner of Ambience) for noticing my post and taking quick action. He’s also agreed to let us deploy some “walkers” inside the… https://t.co/3aWlZzMADd

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) October 7, 2024

Mr Goyal asked malls “to be more humane to delivery partners”. Mr Goyal said he took the stairs to the third floor to realise that delivery partners cannot enter the mall and have to wait at the stairs to receive orders.

Mr Goyal said the director of the mall “Also agreed to let us deploy some “walkers” inside the mall to quickly shuttle the food from the restaurant to these pickup points to hand over the food to delivery partners.”

Read more: “Went Out To Deliver…”: Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal, Wife Turn Delivery Agents For A Day

“I urge all the other mall owners to please do the same, or come up with other innovative solutions which can help our collective customers, our delivery partners, restaurants, delivery aggregators, as well as malls themselves,” the Zomato CEO said. 

Reacting to his post, many users said that not just malls but various societies also don’t allow delivery partners to take the main lift.

“Every society, every mall and every office should make it mandatory for delivery partners to use normal regular lifts and entrances/exits. There shouldn’t be any divide,” a user said.

New Delhi:

Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal on Sunday alleged that a mall in Gurugram stopped him from using the lift while he was picking up a food order as a delivery executive.

Mr Goyal, who along with his wife Grecia Munoz took on the role of delivery partner to get a first-hand experience of their challenges, said he was told to take the stairs when he went to the Ambience Mall to collect an order. 

“During my second order, I realised that we need to work with malls more closely to improve working conditions for all delivery partners. And malls also need to be more humane to delivery partners,” he posted on X and tagged a video elaborating upon his experience in a Zomato delivery agent uniform.

“We reached Ambience Mall in Gurugram to pick up the order from Haldiram’s. I was told to take the other entrance, and realised they were asking me to take the stairs. Went in again on the main entrance to make sure there aren’t any elevators for delivery partners,” he said.

During my second order, I realised that we need to work with malls more closely to improve working conditions for all delivery partners. And malls also need to be more humane to delivery partners.

What do you think? pic.twitter.com/vgccgyH8oE

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) October 6, 2024

Mr Goyal claimed he took the stairs to the third floor to realise that delivery partners cannot enter the mall and have to wait at the stairs to receive orders.

“Chilled with my fellow delivery partners while also getting valuable feedback from them,” the Zomato boss said, adding that he was finally able to sneak in to collect the order when the staircase guard “took a small break”.

Reacting to his post, many users said that not just malls but various societies also don’t allow delivery partners to take the main lift.

“Every society, every mall and every office should make it mandatory for delivery partners to use normal regular lifts and entrances/exits. There shouldn’t be any divide,” a user said.

Last week, Mr Goyal shared a post in which he was seen riding on the streets of Gurugram while delivering orders. 

“Loving delivering food to our customers, and enjoying the ride,” he wrote and posted pictures with Ms Munoz, who recently changed her name to Gia Goyal.

Deepinder Goyal, the co-founder and CEO of Zomato, swapped his executive chair for a delivery bike for a day. He stepped into the role of a delivery agent to gain a deeper insight into how Zomato operated. Goyal, in a Zomato uniform, was joined by his wife, Grecia Munoz, who recently changed her name to Gia Goyal.

Sharing this experience on Instagram, Mr Goyal wrote, “Went out to deliver orders a couple of days ago, teaming up with Grecia Munoz.” The accompanying photos depict various moments from their day out as delivery agents, including the couple riding together, looking at their mobile phones, presumably to find delivery locations, and interacting with customers along the way.

Here’s the post:

Mr Goyal also shared a short reel in which he was seen riding on the streets of Gurugram. “Loving delivering food to our customers, and enjoying the ride,” read the caption.

While the post featuring the photos garnered over 28,000 likes, the reel received nearly 12,000 likes. While many expressed admiration for Goyal and his wife’s hands-on approach, others offered criticism.

One user stated, “Down-to-earth.”

Another user light-heartedly suggested, “Bro deliver to Old Gurugram area too rather than Cyber city areas,” hinting that while areas like Cyber City may be bustling and high-profile, the Old Gurugram area also deserved attention.

“Peak founder mode!” read a comment.

Expressing scepticism about Goyal’s action, one user wrote, “Not sure about this. But you definitely love the whooping platform fee you charge from your loving customers. Nice PR stunt.”

Another user, too, criticised the initiative as a “PR stunt,” suggesting that if Goyal truly wanted to understand the challenges faced by delivery executives, he would spend an entire month doing their job. The user wrote, “Just a PR stunt, try doing it for the entire month; you will understand the pain of dust and traffic your delivery executives face.”

Deepinder Goyal co-founded Zomato in 2008, and over the years the company has become a major player in the food delivery industry. Zomato’s IPO in 2021 generated a lot of interest, being oversubscribed 35 times, and it debuted with a valuation of $12 billion.

According to Forbes, as of October 5, 2024, Goyal’s net worth stands at $1.7 billion.

Zomato has officially shut down its ‘Legends’ service, which was designed to deliver food items even from a city far away. For example, dhoklas from Gujarat were available to customers in Delhi. Despite Zomato’s efforts, the lack of “product-market fit” led to the decision to terminate the service.

Zomato Legends was temporarily suspended in April 2024, and it restarted as “Intercity Legends” in July 2024. Zomato even increased the minimum order value to Rs. 5,000 to reach a profitable margin but could not make the service sustainable.

In an announcement on X, Deepinder Goyal, CEO of Zomato, said, “Update on Zomato Legends—after two years of trying, not finding product market fit, we have decided to shut down the service with immediate effect.”

Update on Zomato Legends – after two years of trying, not finding product market fit, we have decided to shut down the service with immediate effect.

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) August 22, 2024

Mr Goyal’s followers on X flooded the comment section, saying the marketing of Zomato Legends failed, leaving the platform with no other option but to take such a drastic step.

“I am hearing about Zomato Legends for the first time today through this post… lol. It shows how bad the marketing and service were,” read a comment.

I am hearing about Zomato Legends for the first time today through this post..lol

It shows how bad was the marketing & service was

— Veena Jain (@DrJain21) August 22, 2024

“I guess it was not marketed well. Not many people know about Zomato Legends,” read another. 

I guess it was not marketed well. Not many people know about Zomato Legends.

— Manas Muduli???????? (@manas_muduli) August 22, 2024

“What was the biggest challenge scaling it?” asked a person.

What was the biggest challenge scaling it?

— Sejal Sud (@SejalSud) August 22, 2024

Meanwhile, Vibhor Varshney, a SEBI Registered Research Analyst, explained, “There are many reasons. 1—services were never marketed. 2—who likes stale food like hours-old chole bhature? 3—it was too costly.”

there are many reasons

1 – services was never marketed .

2 – who likes stale food like hours old chole bhature ?

3 – too too costly .

— Vibhor Varshney (@nakulvibhor) August 22, 2024

Besides Zomato Legends, the ‘Zomato Xtreme’ hyperlocal goods delivery service, launched a year ago, was shut down in July 2024 due to poor demand. With this service, the food delivery platform wanted to compete with Shadowfax, Porter, and Loadshare in providing intracity package deliveries across nearly all of the 750-800 Indian cities but failed to create a space in the existing market scenario.

New Delhi:

After several customers complained about artificial intelligence- (AI) generated food and dish images on Zomato, CEO Deepinder Goyal on Sunday announced plans to remove such pictures from the platform.

The AI images of dishes on the food delivery giant were intended to add visual appeal to the food and also enhance the presentation of dishes.

However, taking to X, Mr Goyal said he has “received numerous complaints about these misleading images”.

This, he said, not only “leads to breach of trust between customers and restaurants” but also “increased refunds and lower customer ratings”.

“At Zomato, we use various forms of AI, to make our workflows efficient. However, one place where we strongly discourage the use of AI is images for dishes in restaurant menus,” Mr Goyal said.

“We urge our restaurant partners to avoid using AI for dish images in restaurant menus from now onwards,” the CEO said, adding that the platform “will actively start removing such images from menus by the end of this month”.

At Zomato, we use various forms of AI, to make our workflows efficient.

However, one place where we strongly discourage the use of AI is images for dishes in restaurant menus. AI-generated food/dish images are misleading, and we have received numerous customer complaints on this… pic.twitter.com/XXgSDGr6Aj

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) August 18, 2024

Last year, Zomato introduced PicNic AI (Picture Nicely AI) — a tool to boost the visual presentation of food images on its platform — to assist restaurant partners in upgrading their basic food images effortlessly.

Mr Goyal further noted that Zomato will also “stop accepting AI-generated dish images (as much as we can detect them using automation)”.

He called on both restaurant owners and in-house marketing team “to stop using AI-generated images for marketing purposes”.

At the same time, he encouraged restaurant partners to invest in real food photography from Zomato for free of cost.

“Restaurant owners – if you haven’t yet invested in real food shots for your menu, please reach out to our catalogue support team, to schedule a photoshoot”.

“This is offered to you as a pass-through cost; Zomato doesn’t make any money as part of this process,” Mr Goyal said.

Meanwhile, the online food aggregator recently reported a 74 per cent growth (year-on-year) in revenue to Rs. 4,206 crore in Q1 FY25.

It posted over 126 per cent growth in net profit to reach Rs. 253 crore in the April-June quarter (Q1 FY25), from Rs. 2 crore in net profit in the same quarter last year.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)