Falguni Nayar’s story is one of resilience, reinvention, and amazing success in the fast-paced world of Indian e-commerce. Nayar was born on February 19, 1963, in Mumbai to a Gujarati family. She grew up watching her father run a small bearings business and her mother help out with the family business. This early exposure to business gave her a strong work ethic and a deep understanding of how businesses work. Nayar is one of India’s most powerful self-made female billionaires. She is the founder, Executive Chairperson, Managing Director, and CEO of Nykaa, India’s top e-commerce site for beauty, wellness, and fashion. She went from being a successful investment banker to a groundbreaking businesswoman at the age of 50. Her story is not only inspiring, but it also shows how important timing, knowledge, and taking risks are.
Early Life and Schooling: The Building Blocks of Ambition
Falguni Nayar’s upbringing in Mumbai influenced her practical outlook on life and business. She grew up in a modest home and went on to get her B.Com. degree from the well-known Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics. Her academic skills got her into the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A), one of India’s best business schools. She graduated with an MBA in Finance in 1985. She met her future husband, Sanjay Nayar, at IIM-A. He would later become the CEO of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) India.
Nayar’s schooling gave her the analytical and financial skills that would shape her career. She has said in interviews that her family inspired her to start her own business. “I was always drawn to business.” Sanjay and she got married in 1987. In the early 1990s, they had twins, Adwaita and Anchit Nayar. It was hard for her to balance her family and a demanding job, but it was her work experiences that really prepared her to start her own business.
A Great Career in Investment Banking: From Consultant to MD
Nayar started her career as a management consultant at A.F. Ferguson & Co. in 1985, where she learned how to improve strategy and operations. She joined the Kotak Mahindra Group in 1993, which would be the foundation of her career for almost twenty years. She began her career in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) team and quickly moved up the ranks to lead institutional equities and even open offices in London and New York City. She went back to India in 2001. In 2005, she was named Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Capital, the group’s investment banking arm, and Director of Kotak Securities.
Nayar worked on many high-profile deals at Kotak, giving advice on public listings and private equity investments. She became a well-known figure in India’s financial sector because she was smart and could handle complicated markets. Nayar felt drawn to starting her own business by the time she was in her late 40s and her kids were studying in the US. “Everything was going well at Kotak, but I had this dream,” she said later. She quit in April 2012, at the height of her career and just before she turned 50. She used $2 million of her own savings to start Nykaa, which is an acronym for Falguni Sanjay Nayar.
Starting Nykaa: Seeing the Need in India’s Beauty Market
Nayar came up with the idea for Nykaa because she loved beauty products and saw a big hole in the market. In 2012, India’s e-commerce was still new. Generalists like Flipkart and Amazon were in charge, but there weren’t many specialized sites for fashion and beauty. Women often had trouble finding real, high-quality products online, especially luxury brands. “I saw a chance to make a safe, curated space for beauty,” Nayar said. Nykaa started as an online store that sold makeup, skincare, haircare, fragrances, and wellness products. It began in her father’s small office with only three employees.
Nayar wanted to give women power, so she named her company “Nykaa,” which comes from the Sanskrit word for “heroine” or “protagonist.” At first, the company used its own money to get started, but later switched to an inventory-based model with warehouses in Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bangalore. Nykaa made itself a one-stop shop by carrying more than 1,000 brands, including big names like L’Oréal, Estée Lauder, and Lakmé from around the world. Nayar’s background in finance was very helpful for managing supply chains and growing the business, and her retail instincts helped her create personalized experiences.
There were a lot of problems: money was tight, there was competition from big companies around the world, and the beauty industry had a lot of inventory that returned a lot of money. But Nayar’s conviction shone through. “I do well in situations where things are unclear,” she said once. Nykaa started selling private-label bath and body care products in 2016, with the goal of reaching people ages 22 to 35. The platform’s easy-to-use interface, expert reviews, and focus on being real helped it build a loyal customer base that grew to over 40 million users.
From Startup to Unicorn: Growth and Success
Nayar turned Nykaa into a full-service lifestyle empire. It became India’s first woman-led unicorn in 2020, with a value of more than $1 billion. The business grew by opening more than 100 stores in India and adding Nykaa Fashion in 2018. Nykaa has more than 9,000 brands in its portfolio today. These brands are in categories like beauty (which makes up most of the company’s revenue), fashion, and quick commerce through “Nykaa Now.”
IPO Success (2021): Nykaa’s shares were sold 82 times more than expected on the BSE and NSE, giving the company a value of $13 billion. This brought Nayar’s net worth up to $6.5 billion, making her the richest self-made woman in India.
Family Involvement: Her twins play important roles—Adwaita is the CEO of Nykaa Fashion and Anchit is in charge of beauty e-commerce and retail.
New ideas and growth: Nykaa Luxe for high-end brands, House of Nykaa (which owns brands like Dot & Key and Kay Beauty), and international projects like entering the UAE through Nysaa in 2024. In the first quarter of FY26 (which ends in June 2025), Nykaa’s GMV reached ₹4,182 crore, a 26% increase from the previous year. Its revenue was ₹2,155 crore, a 23% increase from the previous year, and its net profit skyrocketed 72% to ₹24 crore.
Nykaa’s House of Brands, which includes Dot & Key (annualized GMV ₹1,500 crore), grew 55% from the previous year to ₹1,695 crore in FY25, making up 14.4% of beauty GMV. The company now has 250 beauty stores in 82 cities and has expanded its quick commerce service to 7 cities, where it has received 1.3 million orders. Fashion GMV went up 25% from last year, with men’s wear going up 74%. These successes show how Nayar’s strategy of premiumization, personalization, and ecosystem building is working.
Net Worth, Awards, and Honors
Forbes says that as of October 2024, Falguni Nayar and her family are the 89th richest people in India, with a net worth of $3.64 billion. Earlier peaks reached $6.5 billion post-IPO, though market fluctuations have adjusted this figure. In FY24, she made ₹6.81 crore as CEO.
Nayar has won the following awards:
- EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2019 and 2021.
- Forbes Asia’s Most Powerful Businesswomen (2019).
- At the Economic Times Awards in 2019, she won Businesswoman of the Year.
- Padma Shri, one of India’s highest civilian awards (2022).
- The 50 Most Powerful Women in Business by Forbes India.
She is also an independent director on the boards of Kotak Securities, ACC Limited, and Dabur India, among others.
Recent Events: Continued Growth in 2025
Nykaa is still on a strong path as of September 2025. The company reported EBITDA of ₹141 crore in the first quarter of FY26, which was a 46% increase from the previous year. It also added 400 new brands. Nayar said on the earnings call, “Nykaa’s strong growth momentum continues with GMV at ₹4,182 Cr.” The beauty segment grew by 26% GMV, and owned brands like Dot & Key aim for EBITDA margins of 20% or more and global expansion (for example, Kay Beauty at Space NK in the UK).
Nykaa Now, the quick commerce branch, filled 1.3 million orders in 7 cities with 50 dark stores, which is 5% of all orders. The company is focusing on making money in fashion (they want to break even on EBITDA by FY26) and B2B through Nykaa Superstore, which saw a 40% year-over-year increase in GMV to ₹300 crore. Even though Nykaa faces competition from companies like Tira Beauty (backed by Reliance’s Isha Ambani), Nayar’s strategic edge is clear in Nykaa’s deliberate growth, which is faster than the market average. Recent talks, like the Duologue podcast with Radico Khaitan in August 2025, show her thoughts on reinventing oneself and leading with a purpose.
Legacy: Giving women power and changing the way business is done
Falguni Nayar’s story is more than just a business success; it’s about breaking down stereotypes. She built a brand worth more than $10 billion starting at age 50 with no experience in retail or technology. This shows that age and gender don’t matter. “Prepared minds meeting the right moment creates more opportunities,” she says. She has given millions of women power through Nykaa by making beauty and fashion available to everyone. Her family’s involvement makes sure that she will always be an innovator.
Nayar’s vision puts Nykaa at the top of India’s beauty market, which is expected to reach $30 billion by 2027. Her story gives hope to people who want to start their own businesses: clarity, conviction, and courage can turn dreams into empires. Falguni Nayar is not only the CEO of Nykaa, but she is also the main character in her own story and Nykaa’s.
