Nykaa sues Tata Cliq CEO Gopal Asthana for breach of confidentiality, data misappropriation: Report

Beauty and fashion retailer Nykaa has reportedly sued incumbent Tata CLiQ CEO Gopal Asthana for breaching confidentiality, misappropriation of proprietary data, and jeopardizing its business.

According to The Economic Times, Nykaa alleged that Asthana tried to poach its staffers, and some of them switched over the past year.

Asthana was chief business officer (CBO) at Nykaa for four years and was also on the company's board. Nykaa said being in such a high position in the company made him privy to confidential business data.

The English daily reported that Nykaa had filed a plea in the Bombay High Court wherein the online beauty product company had paid Asthana a substantial remuneration, including long-term incentives and in stock options.

Now, Nykaa has sought a refund of around Rs 19 crore of ESOP benefits availed of by Asthana along with another Rs 5 crore citing loss of goodwill and another business metric, The Economic Times reported.

Nykaa has also added in its plea to restrict Asthana from using any business data of the company for his work at Tata CLiQ.

Yesterday, the Bombay High Court passed an interim order directing Asthana to not engage in hiring executives for Tata CLiQ from Nykaa.

Nykaa said that it granted an exception to Asthana to join its rival despite having a non-compete agreement with him.

Asthana joined Tata CLiQ in June 2023. Before Nykaa, Asthana was at Shoppers Stop in various roles for more than 21 years.

In the e-commerce segment, Nykaa and Tat Cliq are direct competitors across fashion, beauty, and accessories businesses. Tata CLiQ is one of the key verticals of Tata Neu. However, Nykaa has not made Tata Digital a party to the petition.