- Lenskart targets rapid volume growth and supply chain integration for long-term expansion
- India and Southeast Asia eyewear penetration lags behind developed markets significantly
- Company plans to open thousands of stores in India to address structural retail shortages
Eyewear unicorn Lenskart is doubling down on rapid volume expansion and end-to-end supply chain integration, confident that a massive structural penetration deficit in emerging markets offers a multi-decade growth runway. Speaking at the Jefferies India Forum 2026, the eyewear's Founder and Chief Executive Officer Peyush Bansal reiterated that the company's priority remains solving vision correction at scale rather than optimizing for short-term profitability.
According to Bansal, Lenskart's primary market opportunity extends well beyond the current eyewear consumers to an estimated 700 million to 800 million individuals who require corrective lenses but remain undiagnosed or underserved.
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The Structural Penetration Gap
Eyewear adoption in India and Southeast Asia continues to lag developed nations. In US, roughly 88% of people requiring corrective lenses wear them, compared to 35% in India and 40% across several Southeast Asian nations. Rising screen time, lifestyle shifts, and heightened eye-health awareness are expected to expand the addressable market well beyond conventional projections.
Given India's stark shortage of optical retail infrastructure relative to other retail sectors, the management plans to open thousands of additional retail outlets domestically. The brand's pricing architecture ranges from $5 entry-level frames to $500 premium offerings, positioning it to capture demand across diverse income brackets, according to the brokerage.
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Moats Built on Full-Stack Control
Bansal attributed Lenskart's defensive moat to a vertically integrated, full-stack model paired with aggressive technology deployment. By controlling design, manufacturing, testing infrastructure, and omni-channel distribution, the company maintains pricing flexibility while preserving product gross margins of approximately 70%, according to the brokerage.
Global expansion into mature and organized markets like Singapore and Japan is serving as both a top-line driver and an operational sandbox. Insights gained overseas in retail design, premium trends, and vision-care models are being channeled back into India, reinforcing the core domestic operation through localized, market-tailored formats.
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Margin Expansion to Follow Scale
Addressing profitability, management emphasized that operating leverage will follow scale. While near-term investments prioritize rapid store expansion and brand footprint, Lenskart maintains a long-term EBITDA margin target of 25%. Incremental catalysts, such as emerging insurance-backed vision-care coverage, are also projected to bolster adoption rates over time.
Following the discussion, brokerage Jefferies maintained an upbeat stance on Lenskart Solutions Ltd, assigning a price target of Rs 680 based on a 50x September 2028 estimated pre-Ind AS EBITDA multiple. The global brokerage cited slower broader industry expansion and intensifying retail competition as primary downside risks to watch.
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Lenskart Q1 Results
Lenskart Solutions Ltd.'s net profit saw a 270% leap or 4x jump in its net profit to Rs 222 crore, according to financial results data for the first quarter of fiscal 2026-27. The firm's profit for the previous year was at Rs 60 crore. The company's revenue was up 43% to Rs 2,714 crore, compared to Rs 1,894 crore in the year-ago period. The Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) saw a 76% jump to Rs 588 crore, compared to Rs 335 crore in the year prior. The Ebitda margin expanded to 21.7% to 17.7%. The first quarter of fiscal 2026 saw a one-time loss of Rs 10.4 crore.
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