The archive · Commerce & Marketplaces · Strategic decision · 2024–2026
Eternal's District: going-out gets its own app, ₹277 Cr a quarter by FY26
Zomato parent Eternal bets going-out deserves its own platform: ₹1,260 Cr Paytm ticketing buy, ~2M monthly transacting users, ₹277 Cr Q4 FY26 revenue.
Eternal (Zomato) · District
What the business is
Eternal's District is an Indian 'going-out' platform: table reservations and dining out plus movie, sports and concert ticketing through the District app, assembled from Zomato's dining-out listings and the Paytm entertainment-ticketing business Eternal bought in August 2024.
Starting capital：Eternal paid ₹1,260 Cr in August 2024 to acquire Wasteland Entertainment (Paytm's movies and events ticketing business) from One97 Communications.
How it started
Eternal (then Zomato) had spent years arguing that food delivery's habit would not stretch to booking a movie or a table, and in August 2024 it bought Wasteland Entertainment from One97 Communications for ₹1,260 Cr, taking Paytm's movies and events ticketing business into its 'going-out' ecosystem alongside its dining-out listings — the supply base for a rival to India's ticketing incumbent.
What happened
District scaled through FY26: revenue rose 118% year on year to ₹207 Cr in Q1 FY26 (66% like-for-like), the app added retail-store and activity listings, and management quantified the habit — about 2 million monthly transacting customers, roughly two transactions a month at ₹1,700+ net AOV, revenue of over ₹160 per order. CEO Deepinder Goyal called going-out an ₹8,000 Cr annualised net-order-value business, about 20% of the size of food delivery plus quick commerce, and the CFO projected it could reach $3 Bn in annual NOV with $150 Mn of adjusted EBITDA within five years — while District's adjusted EBITDA loss widened to ₹54 Cr in Q1 FY26.
How it ended up
By Q4 FY26 District revenue had grown 21% year on year to ₹277 Cr, and in April 2026 Eternal restructured to make the unit self-contained: it transferred District's technology stack and identified employees to its wholly owned subsidiary Wasteland Entertainment for ₹24.19 Cr, sharpening the focus of each vertical as the going-out engine kept losing money but growing faster than the parent's food delivery.
Background
Eternal (formerly Zomato) built District on a contrarian read of its own success: the habit that made food delivery huge would not automatically stretch to booking a movie, a concert or a table, so 'going out' needed its own destination. In August 2024 it bought Wasteland Entertainment from One97 Communications for ₹1,260 Cr — Paytm's movies and events ticketing business — and combined it with Zomato's dining-out listings to launch District as a dedicated platform.
The unit scaled through FY26. In Q1 FY26 District revenue jumped 118% year on year to ₹207 Cr (66% like-for-like), with about 2 million average monthly transacting customers transacting roughly twice a month at a net AOV of ₹1,700+, and over ₹160 of revenue per order. Management framed the category as an ₹8,000 Cr annualised net-order-value business — about 20% of the size of food delivery plus quick commerce — while admitting District was still burning cash, with an adjusted EBITDA loss that widened to ₹54 Cr in the quarter.
The bet on making the category its own business continued through FY26: in April 2026 Eternal transferred District's technology stack and selected employees to its wholly owned subsidiary Wasteland Entertainment for ₹24.19 Cr, structuring the going-out unit inside the group rather than leaving it inside the Zomato app. District reported Q4 FY26 revenue of ₹277 Cr, up 21% from ₹229 Cr a year earlier, and management projected the business could reach $3 Bn in annual net order value with $150 Mn of adjusted EBITDA within five years.
The open question is the one District was created to answer: whether a separate brand and owned ticketing supply can take meaningful share from the ticketing incumbent before the parent's patience — and the cash that funds the loss — runs out.
What has to be true
- Unbundling logic: Eternal bet dining and entertainment would each serve more customers as a focused brand than as features buried inside a food-delivery app.
- Buy the supply: the ₹1,260 Cr Paytm ticketing acquisition gave District movie, sports and concert inventory instantly instead of years of restaurant-style partnerships.
- Countable habit: management published the repeat-purchase evidence — ~2M monthly transacting customers at ~2 transactions a month with ₹1,700+ AOV — showing a real behaviour, not a feature.
- Separate economics: moving District's tech into its own subsidiary made the unit's losses visible and gave it a distinct budget and leadership path inside Eternal.
- Optionality: if the going-out habit compounds, the unit's ₹8,000 Cr annualised NOV and CFO projection of $3 Bn NOV justify today's burn.
What can be applied
A habit can be unbundled before it is proven: buy the missing supply, launch a dedicated brand, and fund the losses while repeat usage compounds.
Aftermath
As of 2026-04-28, District was Eternal's fastest-growing but still loss-making engine: Q4 FY26 revenue of ₹277 Cr was up 21% year on year, and Eternal had just moved District's technology and staff into its wholly owned subsidiary Wasteland Entertainment for ₹24.19 Cr, formalising going-out as a distinct unit. The parent posted Q4 FY26 profit of ₹174 Cr (+346% YoY) on revenue of ₹17,292 Cr, giving it cash to keep funding District's negative adjusted EBITDA. Whether the ~2M monthly transacting customers keep compounding against the ticketing incumbent decides the bet.
Sources
- Eternal Q1: District's Revenue Jumps To INR 207 Cr
- Zomato parent Eternal reorganises going-out business, transfers District tech to subsidiary
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