1.At a Glance
Nykaa (FSN E-Commerce Ventures Ltd) is India’s beauty & fashion e-retail poster child — the company that proved Indians will buy eyeliner online if you sell it with enough influencers and discount codes. FY25 saw ₹8,359 crore in revenue and ₹83 crore net profit, which is roughly like selling a truckload of cosmetics and keeping enough change to buy a decent 3BHK in Mumbai suburbs. With a P/E that could give any value investor chest pain (745x), Nykaa continues to bank on brand love, market dominance, and the dream that India’s vanity spending will keep compounding faster than GDP.
2.Introduction
In 2012, when most Indian e-commerce players were selling phones and frying pans, Nykaa decided the country was ready to buy foundation shades online — in a land where even offline, the “perfect shade” match is a 15-minute debate between shopkeeper and customer. Fast-forward a decade, and Nykaa isn’t just a beauty retailer; it’s a full-blown lifestyle ecosystem with fashion, personal care, luxury, and even its own private labels.
FY25 numbers paint a story of steady top-line growth — 25% TTM sales growth — but profitability still looks like it’s wearing trial-sized perfume: nice, but tiny. The company’s cult following among urban millennials is matched only by its ROE of 5%, proving that building a lifestyle empire in India takes more than hashtags.
Still, in an e-commerce graveyard filled with busted startups, Nykaa has managed to stay not just alive but listed, profitable (barely), and relevant. The market, however, is clearly buying into theideaof Nykaa’s dominance more than its financial muscle — because nothing else explains a valuation multiple higher than your annual gym visits.
3.Business Model (WTF Do They Even Do?)
Nykaa runs a hybrid beauty-and-fashion empire with two main engines:
- E-commerce marketplace– Over 4,500 brands and millions of SKUs across beauty, personal care, wellness, and fashion. Think Amazon, but without the “everything store” vibe — here, it’s curated, aspirational, and Instagram-worthy.
- Private labels– In-house brands like Nykaa Cosmetics, Nykaa Naturals, and Kay Beauty (co-created with Katrina Kaif) that carry higher margins and strong brand recall.
The distribution strategy is omnichannel — 174 physical stores (as of FY25) act as brand billboards
while the app reels in the masses. Nykaa monetises through product sales, commissions, advertising from brands, and cross-selling between beauty and fashion.
Roast-worthy fact: while it calls itself “digitally native,” Nykaa is slowly morphing into a brick-and-mortar retailer too — because in India, the “let me try before I buy” mentality still wins over AR lipstick filters.
The bottom line? Nykaa’s business model is about selling confidence in a bottle, tube, or dress — and charging a premium for the convenience of avoiding crowded malls.
4.Financials Overview
Let’s talk numbers without getting mascara in our eyes:
- Revenue (FY25): ₹7,950 Cr (up from ₹6,386 Cr in FY24) – 25% TTM growth.
- EBITDA (FY25): ₹475 Cr – EBITDA margin of ~6%.
- Net Profit (FY25): ₹72 Cr, TTM ₹83 Cr.
- YoY PAT Growth: +103% TTM — impressive, but off a small base.
P/E Recalc:EPS (TTM) = ₹0.28 → P/E = ₹205 / 0.28 ≈732x.
Commentary: At this valuation, the market is effectively pricing Nykaa like a high-growth tech company, not a retail player with single-digit margins. ROE of 5% and ROCE of 9.6% won’t have Buffett knocking, but clearly, the Street is betting on long-term dominance.
Fun fact: If Nykaa distributed its profits as dividends, shareholders could buy…
