Nykaa founder Falguni Nayar becomes India's wealthiest self-made female billionaire

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• Nov 10, 2021 | moderator

Mumbai: Indian e-commerce company Nykaa's founder Falguni Nayar has become India's wealthiest self-made female billionaire. The shares of the company made a powerful stock market debut on Wednesday. 

Nayar owns about half of Nykaa, is now worth around $6.5 billion as shares of the company mounted as much as 89% when they began trading. Also, FSN E-Commerce Ventures, the parent of Nykaa, India's first woman-led unicorn to hit the stock market. 

The company was founded in 2012 by former investment banker Falguni Nayar. The woman-led unicorn extends 4,000 beauty, personal care, and also fashion brands through its website, app, and 80-odd brick-and-mortar shops.

After graduation, Falguni began her career in consulting with A.F. Ferguson & Co. So, she later spent 18 years at the Kotak Mahindra Bank, looking after various trades. She maintained the Kotak Mahindra Investment Bank.

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She was heading a team of over 1600 employees. Falguni has built the beauty and lifestyle retail domain Nykaa. It has emerged as India's driving beauty retailer with a collection of 1500+ brands, including its separate tag. These products are available online and across 68 stores in India.

Nykaa expects India's beauty and personal care business to almost double in size from 2020 to 2025, spanning nearly 2 trillion rupees.

Even after trading 4.8 million shares via the IPO, Nayar proceeds to own more than half of the firm, considering her stake at $7 billion.

Nayar, including Savitri Jindal, who manages the OP Jindal Group conglomerate established by her late husband, also counts on the nation's wealthiest list.