Beauty and fashion product retailer Nykaa Fashion has sued its former Chief Business Officer (CBO) Gopal Asthana, accusing him of breaching confidentiality agreements, misappropriating proprietary data, and attempting to harm its business by poaching former Nykaa staff.
Nykaa’s plea before the HC states that Asthana served as its CBO from November 2019 until recently, after which he switched to Tata Cliq. It alleged that Asthana has actively sought to lure his former colleagues to his new company, with several Nykaa employees reportedly making the switch over the past year.
The company has sought substantial financial compensation, including the return of Rs19 crore in stock options and employee stock option benefits that Asthana received. Also, it has demanded Rs5 crore damages due to the loss of goodwill and negative impact on business metrics.
Further, it has sought that Asthana be restrained from using any proprietary business data from Nykaa in his current role.
The HC, on September 4, appointed retired chief justice of the Rajasthan High Court Akil Kureshi as arbitrator after the parties agreed to settle the dispute through arbitration.
The company sought an urgent interim relief preventing Asthana from misusing data, thereby causing damage to its business.
Asthana’s counsel requested that the relief be granted on a “without prejudice” basis.
The arbitration will take place in Mumbai and the sole arbitrator will oversee the resolution process, with both parties sharing the costs.
Justice Arif Doctor has requested the sole arbitrator to dispose of all interim applications at the earliest.
