Nykaa Founder, Nayar: India’s Wealthiest Self-Made Billionaire

Nykaa founder Falguni Nayar became India’s wealthiest self-made billionaire as the company’s shares listed on a high, as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Her start-up has even found her a place in the list of the world's richest.

Nayar, 58, is the owner of about half of Nykaa’s shares. The shares closed with a spike of 96 per cent on November 10. It is the first woman-led unicorn from India that has hit the stock exchange.

Nayar is an investment banker-turned-entrepreneur, who left her job at the age of 50 years to start Nykaa in 2012. An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), Nayar owns her company stake through two family trusts and seven other promoter entities. Her daughter and son have completed their education from Ivy-League universities, and currently, they run different Nykaa units.

Since its establishment, Nykaa has grown into the country’s leading beauty retailer and collaborated with various Bollywood stars for branding. Currently, there are more than 70 brick-and-mortar stores across the country. It is the first Indian e-commerce platform selling beauty products exclusively for various skin tones and textures. Nayar wanted to change the buying habits of beauty products among Indians. Previously, most Indian women used to buy makeup and hair-care products at neighbourhood stores where they had hardly any choice of selection and trials were unheard of.

Nykaa’s sales surged to $330 million in the year ended in March, as per its financial report. It is among the very few internet start-ups that made their debut in the public markets.

While Nykaa has changed Indians’ outlook from making do with just lipstick and kajal eyeliner, “we have a long way to go”, Nayar told Bloomberg ahead of the IPO.