Falguni Nayar: The Banker Who Built Nykaa (2026)

Falguni Nayar spent almost two decades as an investment banker at Kotak Mahindra before founding Nykaa in April 2012, when she was 49. She is now Executive Chairperson, Managing Director and CEO of the listed company, FSN E-Commerce Ventures. In FY26 Nykaa crossed ₹10,000 crore in revenue for the first time, and on 29 October 2026 Forbes estimated her real-time net worth at US$5.6 billion.

She remains one of India’s best-known self-made founders. This profile covers her banking career, how Nykaa was built, its recent financial performance and how the family shares leadership of the company.

Falguni Nayar at a Glance

The Banking Years

After IIM Ahmedabad she worked as a consultant at A.F. Ferguson & Co. She joined the Kotak Mahindra group in 1993. She first worked in mergers and acquisitions, then set up the group’s institutional equities offices in London and New York. She came back to India in 2001.

In 2005 she became managing director of Kotak Mahindra Capital, the group’s investment bank, and a director of Kotak Securities. She ran the investment bank until she left in 2012. Those years gave her two things a consumer business would need: a working knowledge of how public markets value companies, and relationships with the investors who later backed Nykaa.

Building Nykaa

She started Nykaa in April 2012 with about US$2 million of her own money. At the time, most Indian beauty products were sold in general stores and pharmacies, where the range was narrow and fakes were common. Nykaa began as an online store for beauty and personal care, buying stock directly from brands and authorised distributors so that customers could trust the products were genuine.

The company grew in three directions:

• Physical stores. Nykaa had 338 beauty stores at 30 September 2026, after opening 14 during the quarter.
• Fashion. Nykaa Fashion, launched later as a separate platform, is now the fastest-growing segment.
• Own brands. House of Nykaa, the private-label portfolio, had an annualised GMV run-rate of about ₹3,758 crore in Q1 FY27.

In August 2026 the board approved buying a 51% stake in Aminu Wellness for up to ₹32 crore, which adds to its wellness offering.

The 2021 IPO

FSN E-Commerce Ventures listed on Indian stock exchanges on 10 November 2021. The shares opened at a large premium to the issue price, and on the first day the company’s market value passed ₹1 lakh crore, about US$13 billion. Nykaa was one of the few new-age Indian tech companies that was already profitable when it went public. The listing made Nayar India’s richest self-made woman billionaire at the time.

The shares then fell steeply over 2022 and 2023, along with most consumer-internet stocks. They recovered as profits grew. On 5 October 2026 the stock closed at ₹340.90 on BSE, after rising as much as 6% during the day on the Q2 business update. That put the company’s market value at about ₹96,700 crore, or roughly US$10 billion (Inc42).

Financial Performance: FY26 and Latest Quarter

The beauty business still produces most of the revenue: ₹2,516 crore of the ₹2,782 crore in Q1 FY27. Fashion grew faster from a smaller base, with revenue up about 50% to ₹252 crore. Revenue growth and EBITDA margin in Q1 FY27 were both the highest in 12 quarters (Kotak Neo).

For the July–September 2026 quarter, Nykaa’s business update guided to net revenue growth in the late twenties. It expected fashion net sales value to grow in the late forties, and like-for-like store sales to grow in the early twenties, the best rate in six quarters. Full audited Q2 FY27 results were not available when this article was written.

At its June 2026 investor day, management set FY30 targets. They include beauty and lifestyle GMV above US$5 billion, two to three times today’s revenue, four to five times today’s EBITDA, and more than 600 beauty stores.

What to Watch Next

Nykaa has to publish its September-quarter results by 14 November 2026. Two questions matter most. The first is whether the beauty business, which grew net revenue in the late twenties according to the business update, can keep growing at that pace without sacrificing margin. The second is whether fashion, now growing net sales value in the late forties, can show that it makes money on its own.

Management has also said that part of this year’s festive demand will fall in the December quarter instead of September, because the festive calendar moved. That makes the third-quarter numbers a more useful guide to how the year is going.

A Family-Run Leadership

In November 2025 the board reappointed Nayar as Executive Chairperson, MD and CEO for five years from 12 February 2026. Her twins have operating roles of their own. In June 2026 shareholders approved fresh five-year terms for both of them as executive directors:

• Adwaita Nayar: Executive Director of FSN E-Commerce Ventures; MD and CEO of Nykaa Fashion.
• Anchit Nayar: Executive Director of FSN E-Commerce Ventures; MD and CEO of Nykaa E-Retail, the beauty e-commerce business.

Her husband, Sanjay Nayar, a private equity investor who previously led KKR’s India business, is a director on the board.

Net Worth and Rankings

Forbes put Nayar’s real-time net worth at US$5.6 billion on 29 October 2026. She ranks No. 51 on the Forbes 2026 India’s Richest list. In Hurun’s 2026 list of self-made women entrepreneurs she is third, behind Radha Vembu of Zoho and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon. She also appears on the 2026 Candere Hurun India Women Leaders List.

She appears in our Top 10 Female Entrepreneurs of India 2026 and in our roundup of women CEOs and MDs leading India’s top companies. For another leader in this series, read our profile of HCLTech chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra. Founders weighing a similar move may also find our piece on why startups are challenging for women entrepreneurs useful.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Falguni Nayar do before Nykaa?

She was an investment banker. She worked at Kotak Mahindra from 1993 and was managing director of Kotak Mahindra Capital from 2005 until she left in 2012.

When was Nykaa founded and when did it list?

Nykaa was founded in April 2012. Its parent, FSN E-Commerce Ventures, listed on the Indian stock exchanges on 10 November 2021.

What is Falguni Nayar’s net worth in 2026?

Forbes estimated it at US$5.6 billion on 29 October 2026. The figure moves with Nykaa’s share price.

Who runs Nykaa Fashion and Nykaa’s beauty business?

Adwaita Nayar is MD and CEO of Nykaa Fashion. Anchit Nayar is MD and CEO of Nykaa E-Retail, the beauty e-commerce business. Both are Falguni Nayar’s children and executive directors of the parent company.