Nike has relinquished control in India of Nike.com and the Nike App to Nykaa, the omnichannel Indian e-tailer for beauty, wellness and fashion products, Indian Retailer and others report.
Service ceased for a few hours on Jan. 30 to permit the change in operation. When it returned old members were obliged to set up new profiles. Old logins and passwords were still valid for Nike Training Club and Nike Running Club, but Nike by You (customization service) and the SNKRS platform are being discontinued in India. Nike is otherwise revising its Terms of Use, Terms of Sale and Privacy Policy.
Nike’s objective is to expedite shipping (henceforth two days in big cities, four days elsewhere), simplify returns and adjust the selection to local taste. Shipping and exchanges for the same products are now free on all orders.
Oregonians in India
Nike entered India in 1996, having established the year before a seven-year licensing deal with the Indian firm Sierra Industrial Enterprises (founded in 1994 as Moja Shoes Private Ltd). This deal was renewed through 2003.
Sierra had in 1995 established the first modern shoe factory at Kundli, Haryana. In 1996 it became Nike’s first authorizes Indian manufacturer, and in 1998 it opened India’s first Nike store, in New Delhi. By 2009 it was running 100 Nike stores in the country (and by 2016, with at least five factories to its name, it was manufacturing for Asics as well). In 2021 it sold its Nike retail arm to Nike, but this was not the end. The next year it took charge of the Indian license for Nike Performance Shoes.
Sierra sold off its manufacturing business in 2023. Now operating as SSIPL Group, the company operates an e-commerce platform, sportsstation.in, which sells apparel, shoes and accessories from several sportswear brands, Nike included. (SSIPL remains the exclusive Indian distributor for Asics, too.)
Nike, meanwhile, established Nike India Pvt Ltd (Bangalore) in 2004 as a wholly owned subsidiary. Over the next decade and a half the brand opened hundreds of stores in the country. Its retail operation peaked in about 2015, at some 350 stores, some of them franchises, but revenues were flat. Since then it has reduced the number to somewhere between 90 and 140.
About the new partner
Nykaa was founded in 2012, as a beauty e-tailer, by Falguni Nayar, former Managing Director of the investment bank Kotak Mahindra (Mumbai), with about €21,000 of her own money. She is now Nykaa’s Chairwoman and CEO.
Nayar took the company public in 2021, raising about €500 million, and expanded it into fashion, wellness and omnichannel stores. There are now 276 stores in 94 cities, 44 warehouses in 15 cities and “rapid stores” in seven cities. All Nykaa stores offer tech-enabled hyperlocal delivery, in 30 to 120 minutes. But Nykaa Now, as the service is called, appears to be limited to beauty products.
Nike probably falls under Nykaa Fashion, a vertical established in 2018 to enable Nykaa to expand into apparel, shoes and accessories. This now accounts for about a quarter of the company’s gross merchandise value (GMV), which amounts to an annual €205 to €224 million – and a projected €260 million for the current year.
In its latest financial report (Q3), released days ago, Nykaa describes itself in part as an exclusive importer and distribution partner for international brands, and as having established B2B2C partnerships (full-stack offerings) with Nike and Foot Locker, among others.
The deal with Foot Locker goes back at least to fiscal 2023/24. The retailer appears in the annual report for that year, as do Under Armour and Forever 21 (Authentic Brands Group). The annual report for 2024/25 mentions only Foot Locker, said to be receiving “full-stack enterprise solutions.”
In 2025, as the Q3 report boasts, Nykaa sold “enough beauty products to outnumber Germany’s population,” “enough sunscreen sold to shield ~39,000 elephants from the sun” and “enough facewash sold to clean the Eiffel Tower 227 times.”
