Hrithik Roshan co-founded HRX in 2013, building India's first homegrown fitness brand into a ₹1,000 crore activewear business through a Myntra-first strategy.
While global sportswear giants divided India’s fitness market between themselves, a Bollywood actor built the country’s first homegrown fitness brand from scratch and took it to Rs 1,000 crore before most people noticed.
Topic tags: Celebrity Startups • Fitness Brand • D2C • Indian Startup Story • Founder Stories
In 2013, Hrithik Roshan was already India’s most recognisable fitness icon. He had the most searched physique on Google India for three consecutive years and had publicly documented his own fitness transformation after a near-fatal brain surgery in 2013 (Inc42, December 2025). What he did not have was a fitness brand that reflected what he actually believed about health: that it was not a destination for the elite but a practice accessible to every Indian who wanted to take it seriously. HRX was his answer to that gap.
HRX hit a major milestone with a reported revenue of Rs 1,000 crore, signalling its rise as a strong player in India’s activewear market. Over a decade after its 2013 launch, it remains the only Indian homegrown fitness brand to reach that threshold.
The Story: Building India’s First Homegrown Fitness Brand
Hrithik Roshan did not walk into a brand partnership. He co-founded HRX with Exceed Entertainment’s Afsar Zaidi in 2013, taking an active role in product design, positioning, and the brand’s fitness philosophy rather than simply lending his name to a licensing deal. The founding premise was direct: HRX, launched in 2013, is India’s first homegrown fitness brand.
The brand launched exclusively on Myntra, a distribution decision that turned out to be structurally significant. Rather than investing in standalone retail infrastructure or a proprietary e-commerce platform from day one, HRX plugged into Myntra’s existing customer base and logistics network, keeping its own capital focused on product development and brand building. The Myntra partnership gave HRX access to millions of fashion-conscious consumers at a time when the activewear category in India was still largely owned by Nike, Adidas, and Reebok, none of whom were pricing for the Indian mass market.
HRX’s product range encompasses sportswear, footwear, casual wear, and accessories for both men and women, and quickly gained recognition as a symbol of fitness, fashion, and empowerment.By building across multiple product categories from its early years, HRX avoided the single-product ceiling that traps many celebrity brands, expanding its revenue base as customer loyalty deepened.
In February 2025, Hrithik deepened his stake in the health ecosystem by rejoining Cure.fit as both a brand ambassador and an equity investor in its food-tech arm Eat.fit, a connection that had originally begun in 2017 when he became Cure.fit’s ambassador for Rs 100 crore (StartupTalky, May 2026). The Eat.fit investment positioned HRX’s brand equity in active lifestyles alongside a venture that provides the nutritional side of that lifestyle, creating a natural ecosystem rather than a standalone product brand.
People Also Ask
What is HRX? HRX is India’s first homegrown fitness and athleisure brand, co-founded by Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan and Afsar Zaidi of Exceed Entertainment in 2013. It offers sportswear, footwear, casualwear, and fitness accessories for men and women, distributed primarily through Myntra.
How much revenue does HRX make? HRX hit a reported revenue of Rs 1,000 crore, making it one of India’s largest celebrity-founded consumer brands by revenue.
Who co-founded HRX with Hrithik Roshan? HRX was co-founded by Hrithik Roshan and Afsar Zaidi, CEO of Exceed Entertainment, who handles the operational and distribution side of the brand while Hrithik drives product vision and brand identity (StartupTalky, May 2026).
Is HRX available outside Myntra? HRX expanded its retail presence beyond Myntra over the years into other platforms and offline retail. It began as a Myntra-exclusive brand and retains a strong presence there while expanding distribution.
What makes HRX different from Nike or Adidas in India? HRX is built specifically for the Indian market, pricing its products for a demographic that Nike and Adidas had historically served only at the premium end, while building its fitness philosophy around Hrithik’s own publicly documented health journey rather than imported brand narratives.
Quick Facts
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2013 | StartupTalky |
| Co-founders | Hrithik Roshan, Afsar Zaidi | ScoopWhoop, January 2026 |
| Revenue milestone | Rs 1,000 crore | StartupTalky |
| Distribution | Myntra (primary), multi-channel | Bollywood Hungama, April 2024 |
| Product categories | Sportswear, footwear, casualwear, accessories | Bollywood Hungama, April 2024 |
| Positioning | India’s first homegrown fitness brand | ScoopWhoop, January 2026 |
| Related investment | Eat.fit (Cure.fit), equity investor (February 2025) | StartupTalky, May 2026 |
How HRX Built a Rs 1,000 Crore Brand
Plugging into existing distribution rather than building from scratch HRX’s Myntra-first strategy mirrors what the most capital-efficient D2C brands have discovered: that distribution infrastructure already exists and the smarter move is to access it rather than build it. By launching exclusively on Myntra, HRX got immediate access to millions of customers, a proven logistics stack, and category visibility, without committing capital to retail infrastructure before the brand had proven demand.
Building a fitness philosophy, not just a product line HRX positioned itself around Hrithik’s genuinely documented fitness philosophy, not a celebrity endorsement layer over a generic product catalogue. The brand’s messaging consistently referenced his own transformation, his recovery from brain surgery, and his belief that fitness is a daily practice rather than an elite pursuit. This founder authenticity gave HRX a credibility that pure licensing deals rarely achieve.
Expanding categories before the first category was saturated Rather than building the deepest possible sportswear range before touching footwear or accessories, HRX expanded horizontally into multiple product categories early. This created a brand ecosystem that captured more of a customer’s fitness spending rather than competing only for one purchase occasion.
The Risks
Celebrity dependency. HRX’s brand equity is inseparable from Hrithik Roshan’s personal brand. Any significant reputational event affecting him directly affects the brand, a structural risk that fully independent brands do not carry.
Increasing competition. The Indian activewear market that HRX helped legitimise in 2013 now has well-funded domestic competitors including Decathlon, Puma’s India operations, and several D2C fitness brands that have raised significant capital specifically to take on this category.
Distribution concentration. A Myntra-heavy distribution model creates dependency on a single platform’s algorithm, curation decisions, and commission structures. As HRX scales, the question of owned distribution channels and offline presence becomes more strategically significant.
Key Takeaways
HRX was launched in 2013 as India’s first homegrown fitness brand, co-founded by Hrithik Roshan and Afsar Zaidi of Exceed Entertainment (StartupTalky).
HRX crossed Rs 1,000 crore in reported revenue, the highest verified revenue milestone of any Indian celebrity-founded consumer brand.
The brand’s Myntra-exclusive launch was a capital-efficient distribution strategy that gave HRX immediate market access without retail infrastructure investment.
HRX’s fitness philosophy was built around Hrithik’s own documented personal health journey, giving it an authenticity that pure licensing brands consistently fail to replicate.
In February 2025, Hrithik deepened his health ecosystem investment by taking equity in Eat.fit, connecting HRX’s activewear positioning with Cure.fit’s nutrition platform (StartupTalky, May 2026).
The Bottom Line
HRX is the most commercially successful celebrity-founded startup in Indian entertainment history, measured by verified revenue. Twelve years after launch, it remains the benchmark that every Indian actor building a consumer brand is measured against, and the lesson it offers is both simple and difficult: the celebrity who treats their brand as a genuine business, with real product investment and a credible founding philosophy, builds something that outlasts the roles that made them famous.
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