•Nykaa, Myntra, and Amazon are aggressively promoting their private labels in India's expanding $60 billion e-commerce market.
•Shoppers observe platform-owned brands frequently appearing at the top of search results and product suggestions, raising questions about algorithmic personalization versus structural platform operations.
•Nykaa's in-house brands, including Dot & Key and Nykd, show significant growth, with CEO Falguni Nayar aiming for Rs 6,000 crore GMV by 2030 for its House of Nykaa portfolio.
•Myntra, Flipkart, and Amazon also operate multiple private labels, leading to concerns about competitive neutrality and potential distortion of competition, as flagged by the Competition Commission of India.
•Experts advise smaller brands to build strong communities and multi-channel distribution to avoid over-reliance on single platforms and combat rising customer acquisition costs.