The EV Wedge, Economic Survey 2025-26, and Turtlemint’s IPO Dreams

Eternal’s push to electrify Zomato and Blinkit deliveries is being sold as a climate move, but its real logic is more pragmatic: it makes riders richer and the platform cheaper at the same time. By cutting fuel out of the delivery equation, Eternal improves take-home pay for gig workers while shrinking its own incentive bill. This is not ESG as branding. It is ESG as operating strategy.

Petrol is the gig economy’s quiet tax. For a delivery partner riding over 100 km a day, fuel consumes a quarter of gross income. That cost is invisible to consumers and inconvenient for platforms, but devastating for workers. It traps them in low savings, high churn, and constant dependence on incentives. Eternal’s EV pivot tries to rewrite that math by removing fuel from the equation.

On paper, it works. Switching from petrol to EV rental can lift rider income by ₹150-200 per day. Over a year, that is meaningful in a job where margins are thin. Yet the paradox is brutal: the people who benefit most from EVs are the least able to own them. They lack payslips, face high NBFC interest rates, and cannot risk uncertain resale values. Ownership is structurally out of reach. Eternal’s answer is access over assets - turning vehicles into subscriptions instead of property.

This is why the Delhi pilot matters. By removing the ₹10,000-15,000 down payment, Eternal turned onboarding into a software step instead of a financial hurdle. Riders can start work in a day, not a month. Migrant workers can move cities without capital. Women riders, long filtered out by credit screens, suddenly become viable recruits. The EV stops being a purchase decision and becomes an operational setting.

The infrastructure layer is the real innovation. Blinkit’s dark stores are becoming energy hubs. Battery swapping at pickup points turns range anxiety into a two-minute pause. Instead of riding home to charge for hours, a rider swaps and returns to work before the dinner rush. Utilization rises. Churn falls. Delivery costs drop. The platform captures the productivity upside.

Strategically, Eternal avoids ownership. It partners with fleet operators rather than buying vehicles itself. This keeps capital off its balance sheet and preserves flexibility as battery tech evolves. It also pushes execution risk to local operators who understand maintenance and charging better than any central team.

But the loop has traps.

First, riders lose asset accumulation. Petrol delivery at least leaves a vehicle after three years. EV rental leaves only earnings history. The system optimizes cash flow while institutionalizing assetlessness. That may be efficient, but it is socially fragile.

Second, the model is infrastructure-dependent. If a dark store goes offline or a swap station fails, riders stall. Monsoon floods, grid outages, or battery shortages can wipe out earnings in hours. Petrol is dirty, but it is always available.

Third, regulation is unsettled. Low-speed EVs sit in a legal grey zone. Reclassification could impose insurance and licensing costs overnight. Battery waste is another time bomb. Without formal recycling, today’s green loop becomes tomorrow’s toxic one.

Long term, this is about more than EVs. Eternal is positioning itself as a logistics-and-energy utility. Once it controls vehicles, batteries, routing, and power, it controls the physics of last-mile delivery. That opens doors to software licensing, energy data, and eventually autonomy.

The bet is narrow but powerful. If Eternal can make EVs cheaper, faster, and more reliable than petrol at scale, it reshapes both labor economics and platform margins. If it fails, it inherits stranded batteries, angry riders, and fragile infrastructure.

Let’s go through what else is happening in Indian startup world - Grab your simmering cup of StartupChai.in and unwind with our hand-brewed memes.

“Khel Khatam Beta”: Economic Survey Proposes Startup-Friendly AI Data Rules

The Economic Survey 2025-26 has proposed a startup-friendly framework to regulate how Indian data is used, shared and monetized, aiming to balance innovation with sovereignty.

Tabled in Parliament by Nirmala Sitharaman and prepared under chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran, the Survey supports cross-border data flows while ensuring value generated from Indian data is not lost overseas.

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“Sapne Dekhe Bade Bade”: Turtlemint Files Updated DRHP For INR 660 Cr+ IPO

Insurtech startup Turtlemint has filed an updated DRHP with SEBI for a proposed IPO comprising a fresh issue of equity shares worth up to ₹660.7 Cr and an offer-for-sale of up to 2.86 Cr shares.

Cofounders Prabhudesai and Mahyavanshi, along with investors Nexus Ventures, Peak XV Partners and Jungle Ventures, will pare holdings through the OFS.

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“Hum Saath Saath Hai”: Menhood Parent Forays Into Protein Supplementation With Getmymettle Acquisition

Menhood parent Macobs Technologies has entered protein supplementation by acquiring a 50.01% stake in health and wellness D2C brand Getmymettle for ₹10.5 Cr.

The deal involves the purchase of 1.49 lakh equity shares of Getmymettle’s parent Dhanta Wellness Pvt Ltd at ₹707.2 per share. Once closed, Macobs will operate Getmymettle’s whey protein and allied nutrition portfolio.

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1. Deeptech startup Vimag Labs has raised $5 Mn (about ₹46 Cr) in a Series A round led by Accel to commercialise its patented magnet-free motor platform for EVs and other sectors. The company aims to deploy the capital to build GTM strategies across EV, industrial and defence applications.

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2. Easy Home Finance has raised $30 Mn to accelerate expansion into new markets, strengthen its tech stack and deepen product development across home loan offerings. Founded in 2017, the fintech has now secured over $80 Mn in funding to date.

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