Nykaa’s Falguni Nayar net worth is 5x higher than Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Nykaa founder and CEO Falguni Nayar has become the wealthiest new entrant in the Hurun Global Rich List 2022, boosted by the beauty company's stellar IPO and debut on markets.

According to Forbes real-time billionaires list, Nayar has a net worth of about $5 billion. Former investment banker Falguni Nayar, quit her job to start Nykaa, a retailer of beauty products in 2012.

Nykaa's marquee investors include US private equity giant TPG Growth as well as billionaires Harsh Mariwala and Harry Banga. The company sells more than 1,350 beauty and personal care brands both online and through its network of stores across the country.

In November last year, Nykaa hit the markets at ₹2,018 per share, a premium of 79.37% against issue price and its market capitalisation crossed ₹1 lakh crore on debut. However, the firm failed to hold its gains and the stock has seen consistent fall since then. The shares are down over 25% in 2022 so far (Year-to-Date).

Meanwhile, another tech giant and digital payments firm Paytm has seen devastation on the exchanges, with the stock plummeting a massive 71% since its November market debut

Macquarie’s Suresh Ganapathy, who was the first to flag Paytm's valuation and profitability concerns, cut his price estimate further to ₹450 ($5.90) from ₹700, citing lower valuations for fintech companies globally. He didn’t change his earnings or revenue estimates for Paytm, which he rates underperform. The stock rose to ₹634.05 on Wednesday.

The massive drop market value of Paytm has also resulted in erosion of the wealth of its founder Vijay Shekar Sharma. Sharma, who was once the startup icon for many in India, is just clutching at straws in the Forbes billionaires list with a net worth of $1 billion.

Son of a schoolteacher from a small city in north India, Vijay Shekhar Sharma founded fast-rising mobile wallet Paytm in 2011. One of the biggest beneficiaries of India's 2016 demonetization, Paytm has notched up 400 million users and 25 million transactions daily.