Five executives from Falguni Nayar-led fashion and beauty company Nykaa have resigned, a company spokesperson said on Friday. The high-level departures at the startup come at a time when its stock prices have been on a steady decline, having fallen to `137.8 apiece — down more than 66% from the all-time high of `407.22 in November 2021.
Manoj Gandhi, who was chief commercial operations officer; Gopal Asthana, chief business officer of the fashion division at Nykaa; and Vikas Gupta, chief executive officer of Nykaa’s wholesale business are among those who have quit the Mumbai-based company, Reuters reported. Shuchi Pandya, a vice president of Nykaa’s fashion division, and Lalit Pruthi, a vice president of finance at the fashion unit, have also quit, the report said.
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Gandhi had assumed his role at Nykaa only about a year ago, while Asthana had a three-and-a-half year stint. Prior to joining Nykaa, Asthana worked with Future Group for about a year and for over 21 years at Shoppers Stop, according to his LinkedIn profile. Gandhi has previously worked with the Aditya Birla Group.
Gupta’s tenure ended after nearly two years at Nykaa, a company he joined after 21 years at Unilever. In between, Gupta had worked with Flipkart for about two years. While most of the departing executives came from competing companies, some like Pandya became a part of Nykaa only after it acquired Pipa Bella, a jewellery brand Pandya had founded, around April 2021.
Responding to FE’s queries, a Nykaa spokesperson said, “We see some of these mid-level exits as a part of the standard annual appraisal and transition process, wherein, people exit due to performance or to pursue other opportunities.”
“Voluntary and involuntary exits are expected in a fast-paced, growth-focused, consumer tech organisation with over 3,000 on-roll employees,” the spokesperson added.
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Nykaa is the leader in the beauty and personal care segment, estimated at a size of $16 billion, with a market share of around 30%, according to analysts at Bernstein. The company is, however, facing increasing competition in the fast-growing space from large conglomerates like the Tata group and Reliance.
