Nykaa sues Tata Cliq CEO Gopal Asthana for contract breach, says he approached employees to join rival company

• Nykaa has sued its former Chief Business Officer
• Nykaa accuses him of breach of contract
• Gopal Asthana currently heads Tata Cliq

In a legal battle between two major players in the fashion and beauty industry, Nykaa has taken action against its former Chief Business Officer, Gopal Asthana, who is now leading Tata Cliq. The company has accused Asthana of "breaching confidentiality, misappropriation of proprietary data and seeking to harm its business," an Economic Times report says. Additionally, Nykaa says that Asthana approached the company's employees (who were earlier reporting to him) to join Tata Cliq, a direct competitor.

Nykaa, led by Falguni Nayar, filed a petition in the Bombay High Court, claiming that Asthana used his previous position at Nykaa to persuade staff members he once supervised to move over to Tata Cliq. Some of these employees, the company stated, had already made the switch in the past year. Nykaa believes this has harmed its business and seeks to protect its proprietary data.

Asthana had been a key executive at Nykaa for four years before moving to Tata Cliq in June 2023. Despite a non-compete agreement, Nykaa allowed him to join Tata Cliq after a three-month break, known as garden leave. However, the company now claims he misused confidential business information to benefit his new employer.



In response, Nykaa is demanding a refund of Rs 19 crore in employee stock options that Asthana received during his time at the company. Additionally, the company is seeking Rs 5 crore in damages, citing loss of goodwill and business impact. The court has temporarily barred Asthana from recruiting Nykaa employees for Tata Cliq, though Tata Digital itself has not been named in the case.

Asthana, now the CEO of Tata Cliq, has denied the allegations, saying they are “incorrect” and will be addressed during arbitration. While he acknowledged the dispute, he stressed that it is strictly between him and his former employer, with Tata Cliq not being directly involved in the legal proceedings.

He was quoted by ET, “However, since the matter is sub-judice, I can’t comment on the same. The matter is between my former employer and me, and my current employer is not a party in the matter and therefore best left out in the discussion."

Both Nykaa and Tata Cliq are fierce competitors in the beauty and fashion space, going head-to-head with other major players like Reliance’s Ajio, Flipkart’s Myntra, and Amazon Fashion. Nykaa is counting on significant growth in its fashion business, expecting a 20% year-on-year revenue increase, making this legal conflict a high-stakes issue for the company.

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