67.84 million, the e-commerce giant makes another acquisition in India's beauty industry

At present, international beauty giants are scrambling to enter the Indian market, with L'Oréal and Estée Lauder making successive layouts, and another acquisition has now been finalized.

On September 7, FSN E-Commerce Ventures, the parent company of Indian beauty e-commerce giant Nykaa, announced that it has completed the acquisition of an additional 24.2% stake in the clean beauty brand Earth Rhythm, with a maximum consideration of 94 million rupees (about 6.6571 million RMB).

△ Source: Global Cosmetics News

Three additional investments in four years

The connection between Nykaa and Earth Rhythm dates back to 2022. At that time, Nykaa acquired an 18.51% stake in Earth Rhythm for 416 million rupees (about 29.57 million RMB).

In August 2024, the Nykaa board of directors approved an additional investment plan of up to 4.45 billion rupees (about 316 million RMB), intending to bring the brand into its subsidiary system through a combination of primary and secondary transactions. In November of the same year, the first round of additional investment was implemented, with Nykaa investing 3.95 billion rupees (about 280 million RMB), raising its shareholding ratio to 74.63%.

In June 2025, Nykaa completed the second round of capital injection, investing another 500 million rupees (about 35.5 million RMB), further increasing its shareholding ratio to 75.8%.

This time, Nykaa acquired an additional 24.2% stake in Earth Rhythm for 94 million rupees (about 6.67 million RMB), raising its shareholding ratio from 75.83% to 100%.

So far, Nykaa has invested a total of about 956 million rupees (about 67.84 million RMB) in four years, completing the wholly-owned acquisition of Earth Rhythm.

The acquired Earth Rhythm was founded in 2015, initially starting as a home workshop under the name Soapworks India, and renamed Earth Rhythm in 2019. The brand is positioned as a clean beauty brand, and all its products are claimed to be vegan, cruelty-free, biodegradable, and free of artificial fragrances. Currently, its products cover skincare, hair care, makeup and body care, with bestsellers including the Ultra Defence Hybrid sunscreen and dual-purpose lip and cheek makeup.

△ Source: Earth Rhythm official website

According to the exchange disclosure document filed by Nykaa in May 2026, Earth Rhythm achieved a turnover of 237 million rupees (about 16.86 million RMB) in the 2025-2026 fiscal year, which is lower than 267 million rupees (about 18.96 million RMB) in the 2024-2025 fiscal year and 324 million rupees (about 23 million RMB) in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, showing a year-on-year declining trend.

This acquisition is part of Nykaa's "House of Nykaa" strategic layout. Since Nykaa launched its first own makeup brand Nykaa Cosmetics in 2017, it has gradually built its own brand matrix. Up to now, Nykaa has built nine brands on its own, covering multiple categories such as makeup, skincare, bath & body, perfume, Indian apparel, Western apparel, underwear and sportswear [1].

Moreover, Nykaa has made frequent moves in brand acquisitions in the past two years.

In August 2024, it increased its stake in skincare brand Dot & Key from 51% to 90% for 2.653 billion rupees (about 188 million RMB); in August 2025, it acquired the remaining 40% stake in healthy snack brand Nudge Wellness for 1.5 million rupees (about 106,500 RMB) to achieve full holding; in September 2026, it completed the final equity acquisition of clean skincare brand Earth Rhythm for 94 million rupees (about 6.674 million RMB).

In addition, in August 2026, the Nykaa board of directors also approved the acquisition of a 51% stake in high-end skincare brand Aminu for up to 320 million rupees (about 22.72 million RMB), and the transaction is still in progress.

There are also reports that Nykaa is in talks to acquire a majority stake in 82°E, a skincare brand founded by Bollywood star Deepika Padukone. If the deal is reached, it will further enrich Nykaa's brand matrix in the high-end skincare sector [2].

Multinational giants are collectively scrambling to enter the Indian beauty market?

Nykaa's successive moves are only a slice of the Indian beauty capital boom.

From the time dimension of 2025 to the present, multinational giants are accelerating their entry into this country, which L'Oréal calls "one of the fastest growing beauty markets in the world", through the path of investment and acquisition [3].

As can be seen from the figure above, L'Oréal has successively bet on two major brands: efficacy skincare brand Deconstruct and tech skincare brand Innovist; Unilever took the acquisition of 90.5% stake in UprisingScience, the parent company of Minimalist, through its Indian subsidiary as a starting point, and successively invested in five brands through its venture capital department within 15 months: luxury Ayurveda brand Ras Luxury Skincare, customized beauty brand Skin-inspired, clean beauty brand indé wild, niche skincare brand Secret Alchemist, and clay mask specialist brand ClayCo; Estée Lauder has achieved 100% holding of high-end Ayurveda skincare brand Forest Essentials; Kose has also taken a 10% stake in efficacy skincare brand Foxtale.

This acquisition boom has also spread to local Indian giants, from FMCG groups to retail giants, who have joined the battle one after another.

In November 2025, Indian beauty and personal care company Honasa Consumer invested 10 million rupees (about 710,000 RMB) in oral care brand Fang to obtain a 25% stake; in March 2026, Indian retail giant Reliance Retail acquired clean skincare brand Pahadi Local; in April, Reliance Retail took over Anomaly, a vegan hair care brand founded by Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra Jonas; in August, another Indian FMCG giant Wipro Consumer Care acquired scientific skincare brand Dermatouch for 38.75 billion rupees (about 2.75 billion RMB).....

Nykaa's completion of the final equity acquisition of Earth Rhythm has temporarily drawn a full stop to its four-year-long investment layout. However, Earth Rhythm's revenue has declined for two consecutive years.

Against the backdrop of multinational giants such as L'Oréal and Unilever, as well as local forces such as Reliance Retail, flocking into the Indian beauty track, how Nykaa, as a "cross-border player", can truly transform its brand matrix into performance growth in the Indian beauty market surrounded by giants, remains an open question. This "battle of the gods" in the Indian beauty industry has only just entered a white-hot stage.

Note: All foreign currency amounts mentioned above are converted at the exchange rate on September 8, 2026, 1 rupee ≈ 0.071 RMB, 1 US dollar ≈ 6.71 RMB.

Information Sources:

[1] Reported by Indian media Mint on June 9, 2025;

[2] Reported by The Economic Times on April 6, 2026;

[3] ANI. India is country of opportunities, fastest beauty products market in world: L'Oreal chief, 2025-06-02.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Jumeili" (ID: jumeili-cn), written by Shui Jin, and authorized for release by 36Kr.