A bottle of The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% costs ₹600 on Nykaa. The same 30 ml bottle costs $6.00 on the brand’s American storefront, which is about ₹572. For an imported serum that is close to parity, and it is not what this site usually finds on a shelf full of foreign labels.
The brand built its name on printing the strength of the active on the front of the bottle. This audit checks what is printed on the back, who makes it, and who owns it. All prices were checked on 4 September 2026.
The Ordinary belongs to The Estée Lauder Companies, which paid about $1.7 billion in three stages between 2017 and 2024 to own all of it. The hero serum sells at ₹600 for 30 ml in India and $6.00 in America — about ₹20.00 per millilitre, checked 4 September 2026. The percentage everyone buys it for sits in the product name, not in the ingredient list.
Snapshot
- Founded
- 2013, Toronto, by Brandon Truaxe, as part of DECIEM
- Current owner
- The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., New York — wholly, since 31 May 2024
- What that cost
- About $1.7 billion in total, net of cash, across three tranches
- Made by
- DECIEM Inc., 15 Fraser Avenue, Toronto — manufacturer and packer on the Indian import declaration
- Indian importer
- ELCA Cosmetics Private Limited, CIN U74999DL2000PTC103170
- Price band in India
- ₹600 to ₹2,950 across twenty products on Nykaa, 4 September 2026
- Hero product
- Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%, 30 ml — ₹600, or ₹20.00 per millilitre
How it started
DECIEM was founded in Toronto in 2013 by Brandon Truaxe, according to the trade press that covered it; Estée Lauder’s own announcements give no founding year. The Ordinary followed in 2016 with a plain proposition — name the active, name its strength, price it low.
Estée Lauder bought a minority stake on 16 June 2017, later disclosed as about 29%. On 12 October 2018 an Ontario court removed Truaxe as chief executive and director, on an application brought by Estée Lauder as minority shareholder, and Nicola Kilner took charge. Truaxe died in January 2019, aged 40; Kilner announced it to staff on 21 January.
- 2013DECIEM founded in Toronto
- 16 Jun 2017Estée Lauder buys a minority stake, about 29%
- 23 Feb 2021Goes to about 76% for about $1.0 billion
- 31 May 2024Buys the remaining interests for about $860 million
About $1.7 billion in total, net of cash, over seven years.
The February 2021 release put DECIEM’s net sales at $460 million for the twelve months to 31 January 2021, and no figure has been published since. In Estée Lauder’s fiscal 2026 results of 19 August 2026, The Ordinary is named among the brands driving sales growth.
What they actually make
Twenty-one products showed on the brand’s Nykaa page on 4 September 2026 — niacinamide, salicylic acid, glycolic acid, an AHA and BHA peel, azelaic acid, retinol, retinal, several peptide serums and a sunscreen. Every one is named after a number: Glycolic Acid 7%, AHA 30% + BHA 2%, Retinol 0.5% in Squalane. The percentage is the product name.
It is not in the ingredient list. The full INCI for the niacinamide serum, on the brand’s own India-facing page, runs: Aqua, Niacinamide, Pentylene Glycol, Zinc PCA, Dimethyl Isosorbide, Tamarindus Indica Seed Gum, Xanthan Gum, Isoceteth-20, Ethoxydiglycol, Phenoxyethanol, Chlorphenesin. Eleven ingredients, descending order, not one number among them.
That is exactly what Indian law asks for. Rule 34 of the Cosmetics Rules 2020 wants the list in descending order of weight above 1% and requires no concentration at all, so every percentage any brand prints is voluntary. The test is whether the order supports the number, and here it does: niacinamide sits second of eleven, behind only water, and zinc PCA fourth — where a 10% and a 1% active belong in a water-based serum.
The brand that put the percentage on the front of the bottle does not print it on the back.
Minimalist, the Jaipur brand we audited separately, annotates the ingredient list itself with concentrations; on twelve of its actives products the printed strength sat where the order said it should. The Ordinary invented the convention and stops at the label. Neither is caught out and both sit above the legal floor, but the copy has gone further than the original. We read one product’s list in full against its claim, not the range, so treat that as a single test.
The factory is the other surprise. The Indian import declaration names DECIEM Inc., 15 Fraser Avenue, Toronto, as both manufacturer and packer — no contract manufacturer in the chain, on a beat where almost every actives brand is a marketer who hires a plant. Owning the plant puts it closer to Campus in footwear than to its own shelf-mates.
- DECIEM Inc., TorontoManufacturer and packer on the declaration; country of origin Canada
- ELCA Cosmetics Private LimitedEstée Lauder’s Indian company, named as importer at a Bandra Kurla Complex address
- Nykaa and Amazon India₹600 for 30 ml, inclusive of all taxes, 4 September 2026
ELCA Cosmetics, incorporated on 10 January 2000 and registered in New Delhi, is the same company that runs Estée Lauder’s other Indian brands. One qualification: this is one listing for one product, so the honest sentence is that the niacinamide serum sold here declares Canada, not that every bottle does.
What The Ordinary costs in India
Four prices for one serum on one day. Nykaa and Amazon India both showed ₹600 for the 30 ml niacinamide serum, inclusive of all taxes, with no struck-through maximum retail price on either. The brand’s own India-facing storefront priced it at $7.20 and its American storefront at $6.00 — ₹687 and ₹572 at ₹95.38 to the dollar, the Federal Reserve rate released on 31 August 2026.
- US list price
- $6.00 — about ₹572
- Indian selling price
- ₹600, or ₹20.00 per millilitre
- Gap
- About +5%
- Checked on
- 4 September 2026
Nykaa and Amazon India selling prices against theordinary.com list, converted at ₹95.38 per US dollar, Federal Reserve H.10 released 31 August 2026.
Five per cent, on a product flown in from Canada. It is a street price against a list price rather than one printed price against another, because neither Indian platform displayed a maximum retail price — so read it as close, not identical. The oddity is that the brand’s own Indian storefront, at about ₹687, was the dearest of the four routes that day.
| Product | MRP | Nykaa price |
|---|---|---|
| Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% | ₹600 | ₹600 |
| Retinol 0.5% in Squalane | ₹875 | ₹875 |
| AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution | ₹950 | ₹950 |
| Alpha Arbutin 2% + HA | ₹1,200 | ₹950 |
| Glycolic Acid 7% Exfoliating Solution | ₹1,275 | ₹1,150 |
| UV Filters SPF 40 PA++++ | ₹1,500 | ₹1,500 |
| Multi-Peptide Serum for Hair Density | ₹2,150 | ₹1,849 |
| Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides 1% | ₹2,950 | ₹2,950 |
Eight of the twenty products read on the brand’s Nykaa page, 4 September 2026.
On fifteen of those twenty, the maximum retail price and the selling price were the same number. That is unusual on an Indian beauty platform, where a high printed price and a lower real one are the norm — the discount ladder our Liberty audit describes in footwear. Here the label price is the price.
The sharpest comparison sat in the “customers also viewed” rail on the same page. The Ordinary’s niacinamide serum: ₹600. Minimalist’s 10% niacinamide serum: ₹599. One rupee apart — and Minimalist has been 90.5% owned by Hindustan Unilever since April 2025. Two brands that read as independent, both owned by a multinational, a rupee from each other on one screen. That rail did not show the Minimalist pack size, so no per-millilitre figure goes against it here.
Who The Ordinary is actually for
It is for a buyer who wants a single named active at a stated strength and does not want a routine sold to them. At ₹600 for 30 ml the niacinamide serum is the cheapest way into that habit on a major Indian platform, and the flat pricing means you are not waiting for a sale to get a fair number.
The range offers a beginner little help — a shelf of chemical names, with no guidance about what pairs with what. It is not for a buyer who wants a diagnosis, and this page is not one either. Against the rest of the imported derm shelf the arithmetic is stark: ₹20.00 per millilitre here, against ₹126.00 per millilitre for Eucerin’s Anti-Pigment Dual Serum. Different formats, so not like for like, but that is the order of magnitude a buyer is choosing between.
Reputation and controversies
Start with the advertising record, because that is where an Indian claim gets tested. The Advertising Standards Council of India is a self-regulatory industry body rather than a statutory regulator, and it publishes its complaint outcomes with dates. We read that record on 4 September 2026 under three terms — the brand name, “DECIEM”, and the parent name Estée Lauder. Nothing concerning this brand came up.
We are not printing a clean bill on that. “The Ordinary” is an ordinary English phrase, and searching it brings back dozens of rulings about unrelated advertisers — a property portal, a hair oil, a face wash. A term that weak cannot prove absence. Under “DECIEM” the record holds nothing at all. Read it as nothing found under the terms tried on that date.
One decided outcome sits on the record for the Indian importer, and it went the company’s way. On 12 September 2025 a complaint about the line “Won’t cause breakouts, won’t clog pores (non-acnegenic)”, on Estée Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair serum, was examined and not upheld. That is the namesake Estée Lauder brand and not The Ordinary. Any such ruling concerns one advertisement as it stood on the day it was examined; it bans no form of words, and nobody has examined the pages described here. A search of published Indian judgments the same day brings back no court decision concerning DECIEM or The Ordinary, and those databases do not index every forum.
So the substance is on the brand’s own pages, and it cuts both ways. The India-facing niacinamide page promises “smoother, more radiant skin in 7 days” and a “significant improvement in plumpness” after fifteen minutes, and names no study for either. The non-comedogenic claim on the same page names one: a clinical study, 35 subjects, twice daily, eight weeks. One claim on that page carries a stated study design and three do not — and on this beat, publishing a panel size at all puts a brand ahead of most.
The sunscreen has the same shape. The Indian listing for UV Filters SPF 40 carries “PA++++” in the product title, the UVA grade that several rivals on that shelf leave off — CeraVe’s Indian SPF 50 gives no PA grade. No test report, method or laboratory is published for either number.
The sunscreen prints both an SPF and a PA grade, which is more than most of the shelf. No report or laboratory is published behind either. Judge it on the grade printed, and ask the seller what it rests on.
On animal testing the record runs in the brand’s favour. PETA’s Beauty Without Bunnies directory, read on 4 September 2026, lists The Ordinary as cruelty-free with vegan and PETA-logo marks. The same directory’s entry for Estée Lauder says the parent does test on animals. Two entries in one directory, opposite answers, one corporate group — and the subsidiary is the one that passes. Testing cosmetics on animals has been illegal in India since 2014, so this concerns the group’s conduct in other markets.
The last item is perception. The Ordinary is routinely described as an independent brand. Estée Lauder has held a majority since 23 February 2021 and every share since 31 May 2024.
Buying it in India
The brand reached Indian buyers through Nykaa and now sells on Amazon India too, alongside a storefront of its own that prices in dollars. On the day we checked, the platforms were cheaper than the brand’s own page. What follows is how to read the bottle rather than the marketing around it.
Find the ingredient list and count
A 10% active in a water-based serum should sit at or near the top of a list the law requires to run in descending order. On the niacinamide serum it is second of eleven. A headline strength sitting low in the order is the question to ask.
Read the declaration block, not the dropdown
The free-text block naming country of origin, manufacturer, packer and importer is the one that counts. A platform’s tick-box origin field has given the wrong country on other brands. On this serum both said Canada.
Ask for the import registration number
Every cosmetic imported into India needs a registration certificate before it lands, and the number belongs on the pack. Some imported brands print it. Ask the seller for it where the pack does not.
Do the per-millilitre sum
Divide price by pack size before comparing anything. ₹600 for 30 ml is ₹20.00 per millilitre. Most Indian beauty listings do not show net quantity, so take it off the bottle.
On counterfeits, the parent’s own advice is to buy only from authorised retailers, and it names none for India on its brand sites. That leaves the two large platforms and the brand’s own storefront. It is the question our Bata audit meets from the other direction: the brand on the box and the Indian company answering for it are not always the same entity, and the declaration is where you find out which is which.
Common questions
Is The Ordinary owned by Estée Lauder?
Yes, entirely. Estée Lauder bought about 29% of DECIEM on 16 June 2017, went to about 76% on 23 February 2021 for about $1.0 billion, and bought the remaining interests on 31 May 2024 for about $860 million — roughly $1.7 billion in total.
Where is The Ordinary made?
The Indian import declaration on the niacinamide serum names DECIEM Inc., 15 Fraser Avenue, Toronto, as manufacturer and packer, and Canada as the country of origin. The importer is ELCA Cosmetics Private Limited. That is one listing for one product, read on 4 September 2026.
Are the percentages printed in the ingredient list?
No. The percentage appears in the product name and the description. The ingredient list is a plain descending list with no concentrations, which is all Indian law requires. On the serum we read in full, the active’s position in that list is consistent with the strength claimed.
Why is The Ordinary about the same price in India as in America?
We cannot tell you the pricing decision behind it. The numbers show ₹600 on Nykaa and Amazon against a $6.00 American list price, about ₹572 at the rate of 4 September 2026 — roughly a 5% gap on an imported product, where this site more often finds double.
Is The Ordinary cruelty-free?
PETA’s Beauty Without Bunnies directory listed it as cruelty-free, with vegan and PETA-logo marks, when we read it on 4 September 2026. The same directory lists the parent, Estée Lauder, as a company that does test on animals. Testing cosmetics on animals has been illegal in India since 2014.
How we research and verify brand audits: our methodology.
References
- Fashionista, 16 June 2017 — DECIEM’s founding in Toronto in 2013 and Estée Lauder’s first minority investment
- Forbes, 12 October 2018 — the Ontario court order removing Brandon Truaxe as chief executive and director
- Out, 21 January 2019 — the announcement of Truaxe’s death, aged 40
- The Estée Lauder Companies, 23 February 2021 — the move to about 76%, the $1.0 billion figure and DECIEM’s $460 million net sales
- The Estée Lauder Companies, 3 June 2024 — completion on 31 May 2024, $860 million, and about $1.7 billion in total
- SEC EDGAR, exhibit 99.1 — the same completion, as filed
- The Estée Lauder Companies fiscal 2026 results, 19 August 2026 — The Ordinary named among the brands driving growth
- Amazon India listing, read 4 September 2026 — the declaration block: country of origin, manufacturer, packer, importer, net quantity, and the ₹600 price
- Nykaa brand page, 4 September 2026 — the twenty Indian prices, the product range and the SPF 40 PA++++ listing
- Nykaa product page, 4 September 2026 — the ₹600 price and the ₹599 Minimalist listing on the same rail
- theordinary.com India storefront, 4 September 2026 — the $7.20 price, the full ingredient list and the claims quoted
- theordinary.com US storefront, 4 September 2026 — the $6.00 list price
- PETA Beauty Without Bunnies, The Ordinary — the cruelty-free and vegan listing, read 4 September 2026
- PETA Beauty Without Bunnies, Estée Lauder — the parent’s entry, which says the opposite
- ASCI complaint outcomes, read 4 September 2026 — the three search terms, and the 12 September 2025 Estée Lauder outcome that was not upheld
- Indian Kanoon, search for DECIEM, 4 September 2026 — no Indian court decision concerning the company
- ZaubaCorp, ELCA Cosmetics Private Limited — the importer’s CIN, incorporation date and registered office
- Cosmetics Rules 2020, G.S.R. 763(E), 15 December 2020 — Rule 34 on ingredient order, and the import registration requirement
- Federal Reserve H.10, released 31 August 2026 — the ₹95.38 per US dollar rate used for every conversion above
This is one of the few imported brands on this site an Indian buyer is not charged extra to own. ₹600 for 30 ml against a $6.00 American list price is about a 5% gap, on a serum made in Toronto — and the label price is the price, with no discount theatre on fifteen of the twenty products we priced. The brand makes its own product rather than hiring a factory, and its cruelty-free listing survives a parent whose entry in the same directory does not.
The scepticism goes to what stands behind the numbers on the front. The percentage that sells every bottle is in the name and the description, never in the ingredient list — and the Indian brand that borrowed the idea annotates its list where this one does not. The sunscreen prints an SPF and a PA grade with no report published behind either. Three of the four claims on the hero page name no study. And the brand people buy because it feels independent has belonged to Estée Lauder in full since 31 May 2024, at a total cost of about $1.7 billion.
At ₹20.00 per millilitre it is the best-value imported serum on the Indian shelf — but with the rival at ₹599 on the same page, you are choosing between two multinationals, and only one of them prints the number on the back.
