Nykaa Founder Falguni Nayar Now India’s Richest Self-Made Woman

Falguni Nayar, the founder of the ecommerce platform Nykaa, has become India’s richest self-made woman, according to the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2022. After a blockbuster public listing, Nayar’s wealth rose more than that of Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.

Shaw, hailed as the ‘biotech queen’, had a net worth of INR 24,800 Cr and ranked 67th on the list. Nayar surpassed Shaw’s net worth after a massive rise of 345%, with a net worth of INR 38,700 Cr. 

Nayar’s Nykaa was publicly listed in November 2021. After that, Nayar became the second biggest wealth gainer, according to Hurun, only next to Vedant Fashions’ Ravi Modi. Last year, she ranked 169th on the list, and the ecommerce unicorns’ boss held the 33rd position in 2022.

When Nykaa made one of the most stellar debuts on the Indian stock exchanges, it brought nearly 80% return to its investors on the listing day alone.

Nayar, along with her husband Sanjay Nayar and children Anchit and Adwaita Nayar held over 50% stake in the company’s pre-IPO phase, which she did not dilute. Nykaa has a market cap of INR 62,620 Cr (as of September 22, 2022), and naturally, Falguni Nayar’s wealth is more than half of it.

According to the IIFL’s Hurun Rich List, other women (besides Nayar and Shaw) in the top 100 include Rekha Jhunjhunwala (Late Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s wife) with a net worth of INR 37,200 Cr, Sridhar Vembu’s sister Radha Vembu with a net worth of INR 30,500 Cr, Confluent’s Neha Narkhede (INR 13,380 Cr), Thermax’s Anu Aga (INR 19,700 Cr), Arista Networks’ Jayshree Ullal (INR 15,200 Cr) and more.

Other startup founders that made their first entry into the ‘Under 100 Richest’ include PhysicsWallah founders Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari, Zepto’s Kaivalya Vohra and Aadit Palicha among others.

The IIFL Wealth’s Hurun India’s Rich List of 2022 also stated that the top 100 startup founders from nearly 60 startups held a cumulative wealth of INR 5.06 Lakh Cr. They had an average age of 40 and 60+ of these 100 entrepreneurs were from 37 unicorn startups.

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