In the modern history of Indian women's entrepreneurship, no founder has built a business as visibly self-made — or as visibly contemporary — as Falguni Nayar. The Mumbai-born daughter of a Gujarati bearings-business family, who spent eighteen years as a top executive at Kotak Mahindra Bank, who at forty-nine left her senior banking role to start a beauty-products e-commerce site called Nykaa, and who at fifty-eight became one of India's richest self-made women when FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa's parent) went public in November 2021 at a peak valuation of $13 billion — is one of the most consequential Indian women entrepreneurs of the modern era. Behind every Nykaa annual report sits a tightly Indian-banking-and-business family.

The Family's Roots: The Gujarati Bania Community of Mumbai

The Nayar (originally Mehta) family belongs to the Gujarati Bania community with cultural roots in Gujarat, settled in Mumbai for generations. Falguni was born in Mumbai on 19 February 1963.

Her Father

Falguni's father ran a bearings business in Mumbai. The family was solidly Gujarati middle-class.

Her Mother

Falguni's mother was a homemaker who raised Falguni and her sister in the Mumbai household.

Her Husband: Sanjay Nayar

Sanjay Nayar, born 1961, is one of India's most senior financial-services executives. He has been the India CEO of KKR (the global private equity firm), was previously Country CEO of Citibank India, and is now Chairman of KKR India. He is also a deeply published industry voice and a major public figure in Indian financial services. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2022.

Falguni and Sanjay married in 1987.

Their Children: Adwaita and Anchit Nayar

Falguni and Sanjay have two children:

Adwaita Nayar, born 1990, is the co-founder and CEO of Nykaa Fashion. She studied at Yale University and Harvard Business School. She joined Nykaa from inception and now runs the fashion-vertical of the company.

Anchit Nayar, born 1991, is the co-founder and CEO of Nykaa BeautyBay (beauty business). He studied at Columbia University and joined Nykaa from its early years.

The two children are twins.

The Nayar Family Tree at a Glance

Family Origins

  • Gujarati Bania community of Mumbai

Parents (Falguni's)

  • Father: Gujarati bearings-business owner
  • Mother: homemaker

Falguni Nayar

  • Born 19 February 1963, Mumbai
  • Sydenham College (B.Com)
  • Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (PGP) — class of 1985
  • A. F. Ferguson (Big 4 audit), Mumbai (1985–1993)
  • Kotak Mahindra Capital Company — 1994 onwards
    • Eventual: Managing Director, Kotak Investment Banking; CEO of Kotak's institutional broking; Group President, Kotak Mahindra Bank
  • Resigned from Kotak in 2012
  • Founded FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa), April 2012
  • Nykaa IPO, November 2021 — listed BSE/NSE
  • Founder, Chairperson, CEO of Nykaa

Husband: Sanjay Nayar

  • Born 1961
  • Chairman, KKR India (formerly India CEO, Citibank India)
  • Padma Shri (2022)

Children (twins, b. ~1990)

  • Adwaita Nayar (b. ~1990) — Co-founder & CEO, Nykaa Fashion; Yale; Harvard Business School
  • Anchit Nayar (b. ~1990) — Co-founder & CEO, Nykaa BeautyBay; Columbia University

What the Nayar Family Story Teaches Us

A Gujarati bearings-business father. A homemaker mother. A husband who is one of India's most senior financial-services executives. Twin children who run two divisions of the company their mother founded after she left her own senior banking career at 49. A 2021 IPO that briefly made the family one of India's wealthiest.

For every family — large or small, famous or otherwise — the Nayar story carries the same lesson. Career pivots can happen at any age. Falguni Nayar founded Nykaa at forty-nine, after eighteen years at Kotak. The founder generation in a family is not always the youngest; sometimes it is the parent who, after a long first career, decides to start something new. Write down what each family member did in each decade of their life. The pattern of mid-career pivots is often where the next-generation legacy was built.

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