May 30 (Reuters) - Indian beauty products retailer Nykaa, on Friday, posted a fourth-quarter profit that nearly tripled year on year as premium brands continued to attract urban consumers.

The company, listed as FSN E-Commerce Ventures FSNE.NS, said its consolidated net profit rose to 202.8 million rupees ($2.4 million) in the quarter, from 69.3 million rupees a year ago.

Nykaa's total revenue, over 92% of which comes from its beauty products, jumped nearly 24% to 20.62 billion rupees.

Sales of beauty products, including from international brands such as Estee Lauder and singer Rihanna's Fenty Beauty, increased 25% to 18.95 billion.

The premium segment in India's $28 billion beauty and personal care industry has defied a broader slowdown in urban consumption as upper middle class and richer consumers continued to splurge on discretionary items.

Higher sales of premium products helped Nykaa's gross margins expand by 151 basis points to 44.1% in the quarter.

The company's net profit also got a boost from total expenses rising 23%, less than total revenue growth, to 20.31 billion rupees.

Revenue from Nykaa's fashion apparel business climbed 11% to 1.61 billion rupees in the quarter. ($1 = 85.5300 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)

((Ananta.agarwal@thomsonreuters.com;))