Online Retailer Founder Set To Become One Of India's Women Billionaires

In 2012, Falguni Nayar took the huge plunge of leaving her 18-year career as a banker behind to follow a dream – selling cosmetics. Thus, India’s premier beauty retailer, Nykaa was born. Derived from the Sanskrit word “nayaka” or “who is in the spotlight”, Nykaa rose to national prominence for its consistent turn out of luxury, top of the line beauty and lifestyle products.

Amidst the surge of the online beauty industry due the pandemic, it’s Nayar who’s now in the spotlight, quickly inching her way to becoming India's second richest self-made woman and rivaling the likes of mega e-commerce store Amazon in the country's beauty market.

Inspired by international cosmetic giant Sephora, Nayar founded Nykaa with $2 million from her family’s savings. As the only other online beauty retailer operating in Indiawat the time was purplle.com, Nykaa stood as a pioneering website in the Indian beauty market, expanding its operations to 70 stores spread around 34 cities.

“When we were a small business, I used to fear irrational competition,” Nayar tells Fortune India, “Someone comes in and throws a lot of money to acquire customers. But now I don’t.”

While the economic pressures of Covid-19 hindered hundreds of unlucky businesses across the world, Nykaa not only survived, but thrived. With the whole world glued to their computers, online sales skyrocketed. The site accumulates a sizable average of 60 million monthly visitors who peruse its over 700 luxury products.

“(Nykaa) spotted the right trend,” president of Technopak Saloni Nangia tells Forbes, “because we never had a consolidated beauty play in India before.”

The inventory ranges from premium brands like Maybelline and L'Oreal Paris to affordable tech and even laundry kits! The expansive selection of products put Nykaa on the map as a force to be reckoned with in the e-commerce game.

Assistant vice president of strategy for Dentsu Webchutney, Freya D’Souza took to Fortune India to attribute Nykaa's success to its ability to, “craft relevant, engaging content, with a strong focus on video.”

“Their how-to videos, along with information on beauty tips and hacks on YouTube and Instagram, are all aimed at beauty enthusiasts that create and consume content online voraciously.”

While unwilling to share her net worth, Nayar has confirmed to sharing 50% of the ever-growing stores profit.

“Nykaa expects to report a 40% rise in revenue for the year ending March 2021,” according to Forbes, “up from $247 million in March 2020.”

With the prospects of these astonishing numbers, it’s quite likely that Nayar will be joining the billionaire’s club very soon.

Sources: Fortune India, Forbes,

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