‘What we have done is not enough’, says Lenskart CEO as he eyes 10 cr eyewear units a year

Lenskart co-founder and CEO Peyush Bansal on Thursday said what the eyewear retailer has done “is not enough", and it is eyeing 10 crore eyewear units a year in India, up from 3.2 crore at present, a year after its listing.

Bansal also announced two decisions: blue-light lenses will come as standard on Lenskart’s glasses in India at no extra charge, and the company will offer prescription glasses to one lakh children on November 14, Children’s Day, with only a Rs 199 fitting charge.

In a letter shared on LinkedIn to mark one year since the company’s listing on the stock exchanges, Bansal said, “How far have we come? Not far enough. That keeps me up at night.”

Bansal said the company has made vision more affordable for millions but has “started accepting that better vision could still be a privilege”.

"And I was part of that,” he wrote.

Blue-light filtering lenses will come as standard on Lenskart’s glasses in India from Thursday, with no extra line on the bill, Bansal said.

A note to the letter stated that the lenses would be included on eligible frames.

“The upsell is over,” he said.

Bansal said he had often seen parents buy a child’s first pair with regular lenses instead of blue-light ones because they cost less.

“The science on blue light is debated, and we will not argue it either way. What we can say is what millions of our customers tell us: they feel the difference, and when they can afford it, they choose it. From today, no one has to afford it,” he said.

The Children’s Day programme is for children aged 5 to 12, on selected frames, and covers the first one lakh eligible orders placed in Lenskart stores in India on that day, according to the letter.

Bansal said the decisions were not easy and followed long debates within the company.

“But at some point a founder has to take a bet: on India, on growth, and on the belief that what is good for people is good for us,” he said.

Purpose and profit are not a trade-off, he added.

"Every year, in every category, people should get more for less, and life should get a little better. It happened in phones. It happened in almost everything. Somehow it has not happened in eyewear. We have to change that curve. The scale we have built is not a trophy. It is what lets us take on problems we could not have touched before. That is what this year gave us, and these two decisions are what we are spending it on."

Lenskart’s Rs 7,278-crore initial public offering (IPO), which had a price band of Rs 382-402 per share, was subscribed 28.26 times in November last year. The issue comprised a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 2,150 crore and an offer for sale of 12.75 crore equity shares by promoters and investors.