There are only 13 Indian women who are billionaires, as per Forbes real-time rich list. Among them, only one is currently a CEO. It is none other than the queen of the Indian startup landscape, Falguni Nayar. The Nykaa founder serves as Executive Chairperson, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of one of India’s largest cosmetics businesses. Having started her business at 49 years of age, She is an inspiration for crores of Indians who aspire to make it big.
While some of India's wealthiest women simply draw their wealth from big stakes in giant corporations, the likes of Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon and media-shy USV heir Leena Tewari now serve as chairpersons of their firms with the operations led by professional CEOs. Nayar, the only billionaire Indian woman who is also an active CEO, has an estimated net worth of over Rs 21,600 crore ($2.6 billion).
Nayar, an IIM alumnus, holds a PG diploma in management from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Ahmedabad. After a nearly 2 decade career in investment banking and broking, Nayar decided to take the e-commerce plunge just before she reached 50. She had a long stint with Kotak Mahindra Capital Company before becoming an entrepreneur and also served as the firm's MD.Then in 2012, she founded Nykaa as an online business specialising in beauty products.
In just a 10 year journey as a businesswoman, Nayar became one of the country's top wealth gainers. Her firm's success saw her net worth rise by a whopping 345 percent in just a single year as she climbed more than a 100 spots in the Indian rich list. Nayar's wealth skyrocketed with Nykaa's successful IPO and made her just the 7th Indian woman in history to mark her presence on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Nykaa also holds the elite tag of being India's first woman-led unicorn. The company currently has a market cap of Rs 37,664 crore.
While Nayar’s Nykaa had established it as the leader of the beauty products segment in India, the company now faces the challenge of keeping new entrants with big pockets at bay. Nykaa now directly competes with Ratan Tata-led Tata Group’s beauty products store with ecommerce arm Tata Cliq, as well as Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance’s new beauty brand Tira.
