Falguni Nayar

About

Falguni Nayar’s focus has been clear since Nykaa went public. “One of the biggest strategies for us was to increase the total addressable market,” she says, explaining the push from beauty into fashion. The logic was simple. If beauty worked with a certain customer, fashion could too, only at a much larger scale. But Nayar is less interested in verticals and more in consumers. “We look at it from the consumer lens, where do we want to service the customer?” That thinking underpins Nykaa’s house-of-brands strategy, a mix of in-house labels and acquisitions like Dot & Key. Owning brands, she says, is also structurally more rewarding. “If you own the brand and you are also retailing the brand, you keep the entire value.” What has changed more dramatically is the consumer itself. Loyalty is fading. Nearly a quarter of sales in successful beauty companies comes from new arrivals. As Nykaa pushes deeper into smaller cities, Nayar remains anchored in a larger trend: a young population, rising incomes, and premiumisation are reshaping consumption. “The opportunity for growth is manifold now,” she says. For Nykaa, the run is far from over.