Nykaa founder Falguni Nayar among India’s 20 richest people after blockbuster listing

Mumbai: Falguni Nayar, who founded Nykaa in April 2012 at the age of 50, became one of India’s 20 richest people on Wednesday after FSN E-commerce Ventures, the parent firm of India's biggest cosmetics etailer, made a blockbuster debut on the stock exchanges.

Nayar, only the second Indian self-made woman billionaire after Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, was worth around Rs 55,572 crore ($7.48 billion) as of 3.10 pm on Wednesday, when FSN’s stock was trading at Rs 2,206. She owns 53.5% of the company through two promoter trusts and seven other promoter entities. This made her the 17th richest person in India, ahead of Ashwin Dani, non-executive chairman of Asian Paints Ltd ($7.05 billion), and behind Wadia Group Chairman Nusli Wadia ($8.4 billion), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Nykaa, meanwhile, had a market cap of about Rs 1.03 lakh crore ($13.99 billion) on Wednesday afternoon, making it the 51st largest company in India, data from Companymarketcap.com showed.

This put the online cosmetics retailer ahead of heavyweights such as Coal India ($13.89 billion), Godrej ($13.64 billion), Hindalco Industries ($13.60 billion) and Bharat Petroleum ($12.70 billion). Zomato, the first Indian startup to go public, was four places higher at 47, with a market cap of $14.58 billion.

Earlier in the day, FSN’s shares were listed at Rs 2,018 apiece on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), a 79.38% jump from the offer price of Rs 1,125.00.

Nykaa's three-day IPO, which closed on November 1, had seen huge demand and was subscribed 82 times. The company received over 200 crore bids for 2.64 crore shares on offer and raised Rs 5,352 crore.

Also Read: Nykaa was built to have a life in the stock markets: Falguni Nayar