Estée Lauder, Nykaa and Startup India Name BEAUTY&YOU India 2026 Winners

The Estée Lauder Companies, Nykaa and Startup India named the BEAUTY&YOU India 2026 winners at an event in Mumbai, in a release dated 15 October 2026. The five honours include the Visionary Women’s Award, which went to Rinzing Choden Bhutia, founder of Agapi Sikkim. The programme launched in 2022 and is marking five years.

Nirja Bhatt, founder and CEO of Laani, won the GROW award for in-market beauty brands. The awards cover founders at different stages, from early-stage concepts to in-market brands and creative design talent.

Four Categories and a Visionary Award

The GROW award for in-market brands went to Laani. The company’s release describes Laani as making high-performance sweat and odor control products for Indian heat, humidity and skin, led by a water-based clear deodorant stick. The IMAGINE award, for early-stage beauty concepts, went to Boldpurity, led by Khatija Shabana and Syed Mohammad Fouzan, a scientist-led skincare concept.

The BREAKTHROUGH award, for fragrance innovation, went to Goyam Green Tech, whose directors are Ajaykumar Mehta, Shriya Rambhia and Dheer Rambhia. The category was presented with The Estée Lauder Companies’ Fragrance Atelier in Paris. The DESIGN award, new this year, went to De Icebreaker Creative Studio, a packaging and brand design studio founded by Pankti Sheth. The category recognises creative talent with the potential to collaborate with an Estée Lauder Companies brand.

The fifth honour, the Visionary Women’s Award, went to Rinzing Choden Bhutia for Agapi Sikkim. The company describes Agapi Sikkim as a Himalayan skincare and lifestyle brand that provides employment and training to women in Sikkim. The company says the award returns for its second year.

Prize Pool
The programme’s finalist release describes a prize pool of up to $500,000 in financial support for the winners. The release gives no amount for any single winner.

Prize Pool, Mentorship and Selection

The programme pairs a prize pool of up to $500,000 with mentorship and distribution support through its partners. The company’s finalist release says winners will receive financial support from the prize pool but does not give per-winner amounts. Mentorship and strategic opportunities come through The Estée Lauder Companies, Nykaa and Startup India, and distribution support is offered through those partners, with Nykaa named among them. The terms of that support are not detailed.

Finalists were chosen through a competitive application process. That produced 14 finalists: three in GROW, four in IMAGINE, four in BREAKTHROUGH and three in DESIGN. Finalists pitched to a judging panel in Mumbai. The release does not state the scoring criteria or the detailed eligibility rules.

The finalist release, dated 9 October, said winners would be announced the next evening, after finalists presented to judges. The winners release is dated 15 October.

Judges, Partners and Public Remarks

The finalist release lists a judging panel that included Estée Lauder Companies executives, among them Akhil Shrivastava, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Rohan Vaziralli, General Manager of The Estée Lauder Companies India. Outside the company, the panel included Anchit Nayar, Executive Director and CEO of Nykaa Beauty, and Ankita Pandey, a Director at the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. Ragini Das, Head of Google for Startups India, and the actor Katrina Kaif were also listed as judges.

In the company’s release, Stéphane de La Faverie, President and Chief Executive of The Estée Lauder Companies, said India is one of the most exciting and inspiring forces in global beauty. Nadine Graf, President of EUKEM, pointed to the creativity and ambition the company has found across the country. Ateesh Kumar Singh, Additional Secretary at Startup India, DPIIT, called the Visionary Women’s Award a valuable initiative that recognises women founders driving meaningful impact.

Anchit Nayar, Executive Director and CEO of Nykaa Beauty, said the partnership supports entrepreneurs bringing new ideas to life.

The programme pairs a prize pool of up to $500,000 with mentorship and distribution support through its partners.

What Comes Next for the Programme

The company says the programme has run for five years and that the Visionary Women’s Award is in its second year. The releases do not give a date for the next edition or say when applications open.

Winners move into the support the programme describes: funding from the prize pool, mentorship and distribution through its partners. The releases do not set out what each winner receives, so per-winner figures should be treated as unconfirmed.

Photo: Fahad Faisal · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons